Cutting Edge Voices News

Daylle Deanna Schwartz e-mail Newsletter Issue # 33

I hope that your passions are keeping you warm as winter sets in. Hold onto the joy of the holiday season to keep you warm, and motivate you to make progress through the winter months. Let the new year bring you the ability to create magic in whatever aspect of music you do.

I'm getting very excited for February, when the third issue of Start & Run Your Own Record Label will be out. I completely rewrote it, with many new interviews, and added 20,000 more words, mostly on digital marketing and promotion. I rarely send out a separate email but will do so when the book is available. This girl will be excited then! I'm having a joint book release party for this book and my other new one, Nice Girls Can Finish First, in March, for Women's History Month. If you live in the NY area, you'll have the opportunity to get on the guest list when you get the mailing.

I'm proud to say that my advice for my blog, Lessons from a Recovering DoorMat <http://www.lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat.com> (more below), is included in the new book, Huffington Post Guide to Blogging, along with notable people such s Alec Baldwin, Bill Maher, Jamie Lee Curtis, Al Franken, Gary Hart, and many more.

Feel free to contact me about my fees if you need CONSULTING on how to make progress in your music career or need a shot of motivation by using my CAREER COACHING. I do it in person and by phone. You can email me at consulting@daylle.com for more info.

Please forward this e-zine to your mailing list or anyone you'd like. If this was forwarded to you and you'd like to subscribe, send me an email that says "subscribe" in the subject header with your name and city/state. If you'd like to post it on your site, please ask for permission and I'll give it. Read past issues at http://www.daylle/monthly.html If you prefer to be taken off my list, please say unsubscribe in the subject header of an email.

My other e-zine, Self-Empowerment Quarterly, for the body, mind and spirit is also free. This WON'T come to you automatically. If you don't receive it and would like to subscribe, please send an email to subempowernews@daylle.com with you name, city/state. Read back issues at http://www.daylle.com/daylle/newsletter-growth.html

If you want a stronger dose of self-empowerment tips, check out my BLOG, Lessons from a Recovering DoorMat <http://www.lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat.com>. I have tips, interviews with successful people and guidance for using the Law of Attraction most effectively. You can subscribe to it and get the posts by email. I only do 2 or 3 a week.

This issue has interviews with Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora, and recording artist, Eric Hutchinson. There's also an article by Al Smith, a pioneer for legal peer-to-peer (P2P) technology. The rest is written by me.

Please feel free to write with suggestions and questions that I can include in future issues.

1. Asking for What You Want with Expectation 2. Interview with Tim Westergren, Founder of Pandora 3. Daylle's Speaking & Books 4. "Change"--You Can Count On: Moving Beyond Napster 1.0, by Al Smith 5. Interview with Recording Artist Eric Hutchinson 6. Minding Your Music Biz: Sending Music Digitally 7. Ask Daylle

1. ASKING FOR WHAT YOU WANT WITH EXPECTATION: Do you find it tough to get what you want? I sure did! And when I'd finally push myself to go for it, being turned down smacked me right off my desire to try again. That's normal but not productive. Taking too long to lick your wounds keeps you from making progress with your career. So I'm going to discuss some simple things you can do to change the results of pursuing your goals.

I'm a big advocate of helping the Law of Attraction work for your highest good. No matter what you believe or what religion you follow, your thoughts and intentions attract what happens to you. When you expect good things, they're more likely to happen. When you expect your requests to be thwarted, they probably will be. Logically, your choice of words can make or break the results you get. I learned a long time ago to ask for what I want with expectation. What does that mean?

* Phrasing your request to sound like you expect the result you're asking for
* Asking in a positive manner
* Eliminating words of doubt
* Sounding worthy of receiving

I know this isn't easy if you're used to hitting roadblocks. But just like running into a major traffic snarl, most people sit in their car, waiting for it to move, while others take the side roads and get to their destination faster. Negative habits are hard to break. You may not even know you have them if it's the way you've always handled yourself. But with practice, you can develop more positive habits for going after what you want, such as:

* Drop the apologies. "I'm sorry to bother you" or something that indicates, "I don't feel like I'm good enough to ask you this" sounds lame to someone who books bands, licenses music, manages people hires more staff, etc. An apologetic tone will make the person question if you are worthy of receiving what you ask for. Plus, subconsciously, it makes you feel less worthy. Become aware of any apologies in your tone or words and practice losing them!

* Don't qualify why you're calling with a long explanation. Too much explaining can sound almost defensive. Just introduce yourself, say why you're calling in as few words as possible-enough to let the person know who you are and why you're calling. Don't tell personal stories or why you want them to consider you, even though they might not think you're ready. Stick to the facts about what you want and why you should get it-concisely!

* Drop effusive descriptions. You're NOT the best musician, manager, music supervisor, etc. on earth. There is no ONE best. Playing yourself up with empty descriptions like amazing, like not other, extraordinary, etc., says nothing except you're blowing hot air. Those words are empty. It can make someone wonder about you. Let your qualifications speak for you. If you've won an award, you're an award winning_____" If you're amazing, you're bragging with nothing to back it, unless you have a quote from someone impressive saying that. Send people to your website or to a video. Describe yourself with concrete facts-where you've performed, who you've been compared to, why you belong there (in 12 words or less).

* Force a confident tone. Act as if you expect them to be happy to hear from you because you're an asset, not a pain in the butt. Speak in a solid, definite tone to sound more serious. That said, add a little friendliness to your tone too. As you practice, you can get a good balance between sounding serious and being someone the person likes to deal with. A good sense of humor can help!

* Ask like you assume it's a done deal. Drop all phrases like, "would it be possible?" or can you consider?" Phrase your request in a way that indicates you expect it to happen. "When can this happen?" "What's a good time for me to come in?" If you indicate concern or doubt, you're less likely to get a positive response.

* Remove the choice to turn you down. Ask "when?", not "if?" "Is this a good week or would ___ be better?" When you offer the choice to turn you down, the person is much more like to think about turning you down. Find several choices that lead to getting what you want and put them out. You don't want to sound obnoxious, but you also want to direct them to think about working with you. "Can we work together?" can be "How can we work together?"

* Practice what you'll say and ask yourself, "Would I take someone seriously who sounded like me?" Be objective! If you wouldn't, think of other ways to phrase your request.

Okay, I just gave you some tips and you may be wondering exactly how to use them. It's easy to figure out that you're doing something wrong but harder to alter your behavior to use techniques that can work for you. Here are some examples of how you can make requests with positive expectations:

* Booking a gig with someone who doesn't know you. Most artists that book gigs ask IF the club promoter is interested in having them play. Instead, ask with the assumption of getting booked using a version of, "I have this, this and this date open right now. Do you have a slot available for any of those?" Then the person might focus on if there's a date instead of whether he wants you at all. If you sound like you truly expect to be booked if the time slot is open, you have a better chance of having it happen.

* Setting up a radio interview. Do the research to confirm the stations you're approaching are a good fit for your music. Then call the station, explain you're booking radio interviews and do they have any slots open for your artist (even if it's you) to come in. Don't ask if they want the artist. Speak with confidence as if that's a given. You're calling to inquire if they have a time open when your act is available.

* Getting press while on tour. If you or your artist will be in cities for a limited time, call a writer, explain the artist (if it's you, call as the manager) will be in the city on the specific dates and would it be better for them to do an interview during that time or would they like you to set up an interview in advance. Again, it gets the writer thinking about when would be a better time for an interview, not if they want to.

* Getting your foot in the door for a job you want. You see an opening at a management firm you'd love to work at. Instead of acting like you hope they'll consider you, call and ask if they want your resume first or could you just make an appointment to come meet with them and you can bring it along. Someone might like your chutzpah! If they're not impressed, you can still just send the resume.

The more confidence you exude when you talk to the person, the more like they'll take you seriously enough to try to give you what you want. It doesn't always work. But it does work a lot better than calling like you're hoping the person will throw you a bone. People are impressed with confidence. Some may get turned off but you can't please everyone. Yet you just might make an impression that will lead to positive results.

When I travel, I often call bookstores and book a signing. And I call radio stations to let them know they could have the opportunity to have me live in the studio. I've gotten myself on local TV shows and written up in newspapers-all by calling with a confident attitude and an expectation of an affirmative answer in my tone. I may call ten outlets and get one interview.

Practice will help you get better at finding the right words to speak for you. Removing all doubt from your tone conveys a positive message. It can also make you feel more confident than using the old apologetic drill. Do affirmations before making the call to put you in the right state of mind.

"I can make a great impression!" "I deserve to get the gig and the right people will see that!" Then go make it happen.

2. INTERVIEW WITH TIM WESTERGREN, FOUNDER OF PANDORA: One of the most popular online radio stations is Pandora (http://www.pandora.com). Its founder, Tim Westergren, began his career as an independent musician. He created the Music Genome Project�-a huge collection of songs. I've created many stations on Pandora and discovered lots of new music. After registering, you choose an artist you like and the Genome creates a personal radio station of many similar songs. Pandora isn't a social networking site like most others. It's just about listening to music. Tim says commercial radio plays a very tiny amount of music, over and over again. Pandora plays the music of about 45,000 artists. He pushed for years to get his project off the ground. Both musicians and music fans agree it was worth the wait! I talked to him about his work.

What is The Music Genome Project�? "It's like musical DNA, an enormous collection of songs that have each been analyzed, one by one along close to 400 musical attributes, by a trained musician. We broke down music into its most basic components-every element of melody and harmony, rhythm and instrumentation. An analyst gives a number to each of those attributes and that, on aggregate, makes up a song's musical fingerprint. That's the power of Pandora. When you type a song into Pandora, we look at that song's music fingerprint and start connecting it to other songs that are its nearest musical neighbors."

I've always had an interest in the plight of the working musician. I've seen hundreds that were deserving a career as professional musicians but didn't have enough promotion and marketing muscle to make it happen. There was a lot of untapped potential there. It was because I was also a film composer that the idea for the Genome really took place. My job as film composer was to figure out the musical taste of the director. A director is not a musician so they cannot speak in musical terms. I had to translate what they said into a musical composition. I had Genome on the brain and shared the idea with a friend who had already started and sold a company. A week later we were writing a business plan."

Who can get their music on Pandora? "There's no prerequisite for getting in the Genome. The only criteria is the quality of the music. We consider the Genome a curated collection. We use about 30-40% of the stuff we get. Our team analyzes about 15,000 songs a month. We have to work to find those. The majority of music is not ready for prime time. I celebrate people who make music but our job is to deliver radio stations that people will come back and listen to over and over again."

How do you see online radio breaking music? "Commercial radio plays a very tiny amount of music, over and over again. It has the ability to produce hits, which is its ethos. We play the music of about 45,000 artists on Pandora. On an average day, we have about a half a million songs. About 97% of the songs in our collection play every day. So it's very different than commercial radio. No one artist would get a massive bump like an artist on regular rotation on commercial radio. But when Internet radio is 50 times its size, I think it will give birth to a musicians middle class. That excites me the most about it. When it gets larger, it will be an extraordinary promotional channel for musicians. We see anecdotal feedback from musicians that Pandora is having an effect. They may see a spike in iTunes sales. We did a survey and people who use Pandora are buying 50% more music than they did before getting on it. That's a monster change!"

Why should a musician put their music on Pandora? "It may be the only station that will play them. The beauty of the playlist and how it works is that it's completely blind to popularity. Once a song is in, Pandora doesn't know if the artist is well-known or not. So you're just as likely to get played as a hit artist who sounds like you."

Why did you decide to do Town Hall meetings? "I originally planned to drive around the country to spread the word about the Genome in local music scenes across the country and let people know we were looking for music. Someone in my office suggested I have a meet-up in any given town. They started small.

I'd post on my blog that I'd be in Biloxi on this date and we can meet up in this pizza joint so come on down if you want to talk about Pandora. The first ones had just a few people and they kept growing. Now there are hundreds of people when I do one. They went from casual get-togethers to town halls, where people are in the audience with me up front leading discussions. I'm going to keep doing it!"

What kind of people come? "There are people who come to the town halls that are 75 years old. They've been checked out of music for 50 years and now they're back in the game. They're finding new stuff, buying music, discovering old hits, finding new music they like. Tommy Dorsey fans have discovered Michael Buble and Red Hot Skillet Lickers. They're getting reintroduced to music in a way."

How hard was it to get the company launched? "The reality is, halfway through this company we ran out of money and were in a deep hole. I knew I had to make it work or head to Mexico. I had nothing to fall back on. In some ways, when you start the kind of businesses, a little bit of naivety is healthy. If you knew the odds against you or what you were getting yourself into, you might never try. Once you start, you keep going. We found ourselves in this unusual period time. It's kind of like gambling-just one more hand. We owed so many people so much money that we had to keep going and going, hoping somehow we could get across the desert. I had no idea what I was signing up for."

You say you ran on faith and credit cards for a long time. How did you persevere? "I never stopped believing that the idea was important and solving a problem. And that it would have its time. It wasn't just me who made it happen. It was a group who were willing to sacrifice because 1) they believed in it and 2) you start feeling an obligation to each other and some sense that I've invested so much already I'm not going to walk away from it.

So there's a natural momentum that keeps you going. Plus, I felt an intense sense of responsibility for all the people I borrowed money from, all the people who hadn't been paid in a year or two. I was either going to make this happen or die trying. There was no choice. I went through months of insomnia and was not fun. There are times you wake up in the morning and feel ughhh� People really ought to learn the lesson-that you can do extraordinary things with your mind and body."

Why do you think that royalty rates for online radio should be kept to a reasonable level? "As a musician, I'm a big advocate of paying royalties and I would never advocate not paying them or paying less than we can. But it needs to be set at a rate that will allow us to build a successful business and carves out a fair share for the rights holders. To some extent, the constraints of the business determine that. If you step back and look at the reality, asking for [the rate you'd ideally like] is a counterproductive position to hold. No radio station can afford it. The truth is, playing your music for a new audience is the lifeblood of your career as a musician. So you've got to compromise, and understand you're getting something out of it too."

Why do you think your customers are more like fans? "Because they're discovering music. It's one of life's great joys! I really believe that it makes your life better. That's why people feel so compelled to tell friends about Pandora or come to a Town Hall. It's touching them in a very personal way."

Check out Pandora out at http://www.pandora.com. If your have GOOD finished music, submit to for consideration. It can be great exposure if they decide your music is appropriate for Pandora. I'm a big fan of listening to and discovering music on that site and have many radio stations. It's free and easy to use! Businesses that emerge from passion can be the best to tap into!

3. DAYLLE'S SEMINAR & BOOKS: I've been doing private seminars for many years but my time is getting tighter. From now on, I'll only speak when someone puts an event together and brings me in for it. If you want more info about booking me to speak, please email me at booking@daylle.com. I'll keep you posted on my speaking gigs that are open to the public. I do music industry and self-empowerment workshops.

My latest book, I Don't Need a Record Deal! Your Survival Guide for the Indie Music Revolution, continues to do really well! The focus is on making money from musical talent. It guides you to creating as many income streams as possible and has specifics on how to pursue the variety of opportunities.

It's the only book I know of with so many specifics on how to tour and license music in international markets. People are surprised to find chapters on taking care of your physical and mental health too. But part of surviving and thriving includes taking good care of YOU.

return) in check or money order (made out to Daylle Schwartz) with your name, address, and email address. My other books, The Real Deal: How to Get Signed to a Record Label and Start & Run Your Own Record Label are also available from me at the same price. Please specify if you want it autographed. Send it to:

       Daylle Schwartz
       PO Box 6802, FDR Station
       New York, NY 10150

4. "CHANGE"--YOU CAN COUNT ON: MOVING BEYOND NAPSTER 1.0 I've heard many negative facts about P2P technology but have never really understood its benefits. Al Smith is considered an historic Internet pioneer, reaching over 250 million subscribers worldwide, with his music and message. I asked him to clarify why he thinks P2P doesn't deserve a bad rap and should be accepted by the music industry. Here's what he says:

BACKGROUND: It's no secret the recording, broadcast and now movie sectors are in the midst of a CIVIL WAR-THE DIGITAL REVOLUTION! As a writer, producer and entertainer with an IT background, I have a passion for addressing the issues plaguing the music industry that I have known and loved. Evidently, suing kids and their grandmothers is no solution to ending illegal pirating practices that have driven most of the players (including music retail stores) out of business. There seems to be no winning strategy in sight-when competing against FREE. Fortunately, however, there are ways for artists and rights holders to receive revenue from their properties. But it requires all players to accept a major paradigm shift from the way things were done in the past.

My quest for solutions led me to meet, interview and debate with some of the brightest minds in the business. Therefore, I can say, a viable methodology is not found in just cutting-edge technology but rather, in how core issues are addressed from a humanistic and behavioral perspective. At this summer's Advertising 2.0 Conference in New York, I was the ONLY "new Media" panelist advocating the benefit of including remaining brick and mortar stores while my colleagues consider them "obsolete in favor of digital downloading. In contrast, my strategies install a philosophy which appeals to the psychographics of an array of consumers-less likely to pirate their entertainment content.

THE IRONY: Introducing CHANGE or getting revolutionary ideas to trickle up is often a chore. After approaching SONY, a BMG Executive said after our meeting, "Al it sounds like you are right on target! But getting this big ship to turn around in this climate is almost impossible." Sad to say, he (and several others) are no longer around. Even though, my team is pregnant with new initiatives that can give any major "old-school" player a new lease on life, we can only lead the boss to water, but we can't make him\her drink.

THE CHALLENGE: One step toward change requires the Entertainment and Retail Industry to realign itself with legal peer-to-peer (P2P) technology. Thus, it must be willing to share revenue in order to be relevant and compete against pirating. I have pioneered the field working with new distribution leaders like Les Ottolenghi co-founder of INTENT Mediaworks and now Fuzebox <http://www.fuzeboxinc.com/> who helped me introduce my CRIB (country, rock, inspiration & blues) brand of music to millions of subscribers using P2P technology.

P2P distribution enabled me to successfully distribute music performance videos of my solo act and full band "Blacksmith, while the record labels didn't have a clue! As a result, during the 2004 New Technology Hearings, I and legendary talent agent Sam McKeith, were selected to present our case at Capital Hill. Many say our testimony played a significant role in impacting the court's decision to stay the modified use of the P2P platform, which earned me the title of Ambassador of "legal" P2P distribution.

P2P-THE NEW DISTRIBUTION PLATFORM: Since peer-to-peer distribution has caused such dramatic change in the industry, it behooves any serious artist, rights holder or industry player to become acquainted with this new industry. It's been a while since Napster made the news as one of the P2P distributors shut down for "unauthorized use of copyrighted material."

Today, Marty Lafferty, CEO of the Distributed Computing Industry Association works closely with the current breed of new media distributors as P2P members. The mission of the DCIA is to foster commercial development of peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing technologies, and other methods, to discover and deliver content that's more advanced than traditional approaches.

P2P-THE DETAILS: With the old server-client approach, every download required a separate session between the machine hosting the content and each device receiving it. Especially for big files, this represented an expensive form of distribution and inefficient use of network resources. P2P brought a way to replicate broadcast economics, where content hosts incur virtually no incremental expense, as files are transmitted from one to a thousand or literally tens of millions of users.

With P2P, every user on the network joins in a kind of online cooperative-sharing storage, bandwidth, communication, and even viral marketing-to very efficiently distribute content. P2P is unique because of its decentralized approach and low-to-no overhead. Digital P2P affords rights holders (copyright owners) minimal hosting and distribution costs.

P2P industry players include BitTorrent, the most widely used protocol, with many derivatives; eDonkey, which ceased commercial operation, but has remained popular as the open-source eMule; LimeWire, a widely-used open-P2P program with nearly 90 million users generating over 5 billion monthly queries, and now featuring an independent music store; and Kontiki, recently spun-off by VeriSign and currently used in several high-profile media deployments, including BBC's iPlayer.

2007 was the year when peer-to-peer television or P2PTV fully arrived, representing a huge breakthrough for video distribution. Now featuring a Flash-based client-less solution is Joost, an online movie festival and customized channels is Babelgum, and TV stations now in European market trials is Zattoo. An open P2PTV service, backed by Time Warner is VeohTV. A hybrid P2PTV client player is Miro.

The newest Iteration of P2P is peer-assisted or hybrid-P2P content delivery networks (CDNS) that exemplify cloud computing. These incredibly sophisticated platforms give rights holders enormous flexibility in managing online delivery of their copyrighted works. Cost, speed, and terms-and-conditions for content redistribution can each be precisely controlled. Downloads to play in real-time, downloads to play later, and live streaming transmissions can all be supported with the unprecedented advantages of P2P.

The evolution of P2P can be tracked in terms of its global impact as a channel. Key metrics include over 450 million active P2P software installations worldwide, plus now the addition of social networks (i.e., Myspace and Facebook) and user-generated content dramatically increasing the need for P2P solutions. According to BigChampagne, the industry's equivalent of Arbitron or Nielsen ratings services. P2P usage continues to grow steadily year-after-year. According to Apple and the record industry, depending on the geographic region, 20 - 60 times more music tracks are acquired on P2P than are downloaded from iTunes.

MultiMedia Intelligence sees P2P traffic growing by 400% in the next five years, from 1.6 to 8 petabytes per month, with licensed P2P growing at ten times that rate as authorized P2P offerings come into their own; and advanced efficiency improvements, such as P4P and hybrid services, take hold. Insight Research projects that the worldwide market for P2P and file-sharing services is expected to surpass $28 billion per year in revenue for carriers and ISPs over the next three years.

People are making money with P2P in a number of ways. We have traditional media business models coming to P2P; represented by QTRAX with ad-supported music; iMesh with a subscription model; and Vuze with paid downloads. P2P telephony revenue is represented by Skype, which created 2.6 billion dollars in value for investors when acquired by eBay.

P2P provides resources in government relations, best practices, member services, and consumer research. Examples of DCIA government relations work include providing information and speakers for FTC workshops, the Inadvertent Sharing Protection Working Group (ISPG) and "Peer-to-Peer Parents And Teens React On Line" or P2P PATROL, which marked an unusual collaboration of law enforcement and the private sector. A feature of this program was developing tools to help end-users recognize, report, and remove criminally obscene content.

IN CONCLUSION: P2P is here to stay so get used to it! You can stay abreast of its development by regularly visiting the DCIA newsletters at www.DCIA.Info

Al Smith is a singer, songwriter, musician, producer, and founder of the rock band Blacksmith. He performs with Godin Guitars, Ketron Midjay plus and Behringer amps. As a technology advocate he's known in the congressional record as "The Ambassador for 'legal' Peer-to-Peer distribution." He's also involved in many philanthropic activities. You can watch Al at the DCIA NYC Summit for emerging P2PDistribution <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEcVnRXrjg4> and contact him at <AllanSmith@optonline.net>

5. INTERVIEW WITH ERIC HUTHCHINSON: After Eric's label deal fell apart, he decided to go back to his indie roots. So he released his next CD independently and began touring to support it. When blogger Perez Hilton recommended it, he shot to #7 on the iTunes charts. Now he's entering a more creative label deal that gives him more control. Eric shared his story and philosophy with me.

How did you feel when your label deal fell apart? "I learned a lot from that situation. At the time I thought, "here we go, taking off," and then to have everything fall apart was really frustrating. It took me a while to rebound and decide if I still wanted to try again. It refocused me to decide if I really liked it or not. It reminded me of why I liked doing my music-connecting with audiences and writing songs. I didn't get into it for the glamour and celebrity. It also taught me how fragile the industry, and my career is. Now I understand that things will be up and down and I have to appreciate when it's going well and not get caught up in it. I began doing music when I was young because I liked doing it. My goal has always been if I do something, to do it well. I always wanted a record deal, back as far as high school, because I thought it meant that you'd made it. Though the model is changing, I'm still proud now."

How do you feel about your current deal? "I just signed a deal with Warner Brothers but still think of myself as an independent artist. We were able to work out a deal where I'm licensing the music to them. So I maintain the masters, for this current album and a live one, after that it will technically be Warner Brothers. I'm still keeping my imprint label, Let's Break Records."

How did Perez Hilton hear your music? "A friend sent Perez my music. I only knew about him because my sister read his blog. I thought it would be cool to be on it, that my sister would see it and it would be funny. That was the extent of my expectations. I checked the night before and thought it wasn't going to get up. When I woke up there was one of these night and day differences. I was bombarded with attention. People who hadn't called me back were returning my calls�.MySpace jumped to close to 60,000 that day.

Within the day the album jumped to #7, having not been in the top 100 before that. Besides Perez, I have a lot of other blogs that I show up on now."

How helpful has the Internet been? "The Internet has taken all the guesswork out of buying an album. Perez put my song up on his blog, put a link to iTunes and a song to listen to, so someone could discover me and become a fan within a half hour. I've gotten a decent amount of printed press too.

But when you read an article in a newspaper, you think it sounds interesting, make a mental note to check it out when you're in a record store, and probably don't because so many things makes it fall through the cracks. With the Internet, someone at work tells you about an album, you look it up immediately at your computer, you listen to it and download it in a few minutes."

How have you kept the momentum going? "There's been a steady, trickle down from Perez and other blogs. My plans, which have been to tour, didn't change much. I tour a lot and create my own buzz. My manager calls it making friends door to door. I believe in that. You've got to go to each city, play the shows and meet the people face-to-face. That creates the real bond. I'm interested in making long-term fans, not just the ones who just downloads my songs because everyone else is doing it."

When I hear about music I go there first, because I know how the format is gonna look and I can hear the songs immediately and see what else is going on. I use it to send bulletins to let people know about my touring schedule.

I don't do many friend requests. I do like being able to do a show and get responses afterwards, to see what people thought of the show. I can tell how well a show did by how many comments I have the next day. I don't mention it anymore. Fans seem to know by now that they can go to MySpace and get in touch with you. I'm thinking about getting onto Facebook too. It's easier to navigate. People usually contact me through MySpace and the messaging format is clunky for me. It takes me a really long time to writer back as the pages go a lot slower. My email account is much faster."

Do you think touring is still important? "I think that touring is undervalued. That's how you make fans and find out about your own music. To not go out and tour is really robbing yourself of some growth, both fan base-wise and musically. Touring generates interest, especially these days.

That's when you really separate the men from the boys. Can this person really get out there and actually perform? When someone sees me for the first time, they always say I'm an entertainer. It's not just about playing the songs. I talk a lot between them. It takes a lot of energy to haul yourself out of your house and go to a venue that might be cramped, and overpriced."

Why do you think that so many good musicians don't succeed? "I think people fail to take it seriously enough. That's a big problem for me. I consider myself pretty professional. That was really the difference. I started looking at it as a day-to-day job as opposed to a hobby, or just some sort of career I was trying to do. How can you do a show drunk? You wouldn't show up that way to the office wasted. But the music industry has somehow decided it's okay to get drunk or do drugs and then go perform. When people don't take it seriously enough, there's a lot of wasted talent out there."

What's your best advice? "Before you do anything else, absolutely make sure you really love it and are doing it for the right reasons. The American Idol thing shows how many people don't want to work but want to be famous. In my experiences, just being after the glamour is not going to get you there.

There are too many hardships that come along. Passion has to really be there. Sleep on it. There were so many nights I felt like quitting. Usually things look a lot better the next morning. There's going to be endless battles but hopefully you'll win the war. Once you're established and you believe that you're passionate about it, the next step is cutting out the day job. If you're gonna do it, then you have to really do it. A lot of people have day jobs and don't have time for what they need to do. I stopped having day jobs. It puts a lot more pressure and emphasis on you to work in the music world and make money. Then you have the energy to keep going and write songs. Otherwise, you have a day job, get home at night and don't feel like writing songs."

6. MINDING YOUR MUSIC BIZ If you're a musician, or working with one, there will be times you'll want to send music electronically, whether it's in pursuit of licensing, a gig, or publicity. My rule is to NEVER send an attached music file to someone who didn't ask for it. While some industry people will say it's OK, many more don't want it clogging up their inbox.

Contact the person first and ask what they'd like! You don't want to turn someone off by pissing them off with a huge file they didn't want.

It's good to have options for getting your music to someone who might use it. One alternative is to direct the person to the music on a webpage by sending a link for it. Another popular way is to use the services of YouSendit <http://www.yousendit.com/>, recommended as a good way to send digital content. You can get an account initially for free. If you have bigger needs, it's not too pricy to get a paid account. Many people who need content prefer to receive it through this service.

7. ASK DAYLLE: I always thought I wanted a major label deal. I'm not the type to market my music completely on my own. I've gotten interest from indie labels. Do you think that's a good way to go?

Absolutely! As long as it's a label with a track record, the means to market and promote, and a plan.

I'm amazed at how so many artists still look for a major label that will give them a career. Those big entities are in business to make money.

Period. There's no passion behind their decisions-only spreadsheets with figures about your potential dollar earnings. While I know there are many people working at major labels who do feel passion for the artists they sign, they're hands are often tied for what they can do. Indie labels are much more passionate about the music they sign. They're more likely to promote all their artists, instead of focusing on a handful and letting the others fall in the cracks.

Indie labels may sell a lot fewer records but their expenses are MUCH lower than those of a major label so you can end up making money faster, and often a lot more. Most give a lot more support. Major labels can be helpful when it comes to getting onto a bigger tour or being played on radio. But if you're not a priority, you may get no support. I've said this for years-if I were an artist and had a choice between signing with a major and a solid indie, I'd go with the latter in most cases.

Sometimes you can join succeed by doing that. Then there are musicians who write from their souls. Since your soul is unique-yours and yours alone-it will reflect you, not another musical act. There will be folks who don't like your music if it's different. That's OK. Focus on those who do. Many fans appreciate sincerity in music, and its uniqueness, as long as the music is good.

My writing style is very me. People who read my books write to say they felt like a friend was speaking to them as they read. That's how I want my writing to be. But for my fourth book, an editor was assigned to it who wasn't into my friendly writing. She tore my book apart and edited my voice out of it. A note she wrote to her superior was accidentally sent to me with the revised manuscript. She said I was a terrible writer. How did I ever get a book deal? My style was sloppy. There were other critical comments that could have cut me up.

Did it hurt me? Nope! I was comfortable with my writing and knew mine just wasn't the editor's taste. I called the senior editor, who'd already said he liked the book, and said the copy editor was crazy and shouldn't have been assigned my book. She was stiff, and made my writing that way. He agreed and told me to change anything I wanted back. I did. The book went on to sell a lot and is out in a second edition. Sometimes your creative work isn't the right fit for some people. That doesn't make it bad. I'll never be considered an astute literary figure, but who cares? People enjoy reading my books!

John Locke said, "New opinions are always suspected, and usually opposed, without any other reason but because they are not already common." It's the same with music. You can't be afraid to try something new or different. And people who don't like it shouldn't daunt you if you believe in what you're doing. YOU need to love your music. YOU need to believe in it. Plenty of musicians don't worry about taking a new path that's looked at skeptically.

When they become successful, others try to follow them. Be the trendsetter by following what feels right to you, not by trying to do what's already been done. Innovation in music leads to a more satisfying success!