Category: Uncategorized

We Want You!

Marionette’s Manifesto is looking for a small group of artists who make Rock (Art, Alternative, Folk, Indie, Blues) music.

Marionette’s Manifesto is looking for a small group of artists who make Rock (Art, Alternative, Folk, Indie, Blues) music.

Are you inspired by bands such as Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, King Crimson, Genesis, Radiohead or Soundgarden?

Then send us some demos today to contact.marionettesmanifesto@gmail.com (please see our demo policy before sending anything). Marionette’s Manifesto is less of a label and more to be a collective of like minded musicians who make similar music. We would be working together to promote each others releases whilst retaining the rights and income from the music we make.

Goals:

  • To Network with like minded independent bands and solo artists and promote each other’s music, helping each other grow our fan base
  • To promote the music of said artists through the website and social media. The artists music is actually distributed by them through an online store (i.e. bandcamp), they retain all the rights and income from the music.
  • To release periodic label compilations compiled and released by the artists themselves. We all choose our favourite songs released on the label to go onto the compilation. This is then shared by each member so they will not only be promoting their own music but also the music of the other artists.

What i am offering to the artists:

  • Each artist will receive a free CD tray inlay to be included in their album download. An optional Cassette J-Card can be created for them also. These would be included in the album downloads as extra so that fans can burn or record their own CD or cassette copy.
  • Free optional mastering of their music.
  • A Facebook group and discord server to congregate with the other artists in, sharing demos of works in progress, finding other label artists to collaborate with on new projects etc…

If you think your music would fit in here or you want to learn more then please drop me an email or message me through the new Facebook page.

I look forward to hearing your music,

Joseph Bagwell

If i Could Fly

Took some photos of some birds outside my house today. Mainly for the intent of getting good photos to use as artwork for the next album. I have already chosen some good candidates out of the ones i chose, however here are the best photos i took anyway.

Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 09
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 04
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 06
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 08
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 16
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 15
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 16
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 01
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 03
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 13 (u wot m8?)
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 20
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 18
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 11
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 10
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 02
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 05
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 14
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 12
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 07
Bird Photos 04/12/18 – 019

FMP | Proposal

For my FMP i plan to start my own independent record label for Rock and acoustic based genres. I wish to sign at least 3 – 4 artists (2 bands and 2 solo) to the label. From this if the artist wishes to release an EP/Album/Single then i will get that recorded for them and release the material through the label. Once all profits have been recouped i plan to split the profits with the artist 20/80 in their favor.

The big thing i wish to focus on is to put on a gig with the artists i sign and record all the sets to create a big live album and call it “Hot air Music Presents…”, this will most likely be a free download from the website.

I have currently written up some basic recording contracts for the label and i am getting a logo designed by a student on the art course.

Another thing i can do for the artists is manage them slightly if they require those kind of services. I will also be marketing and promoting them along with the label

Objectives for record Label –

  • Sign 3-4 artists with a mix of bands and solo acts
  • Organise and put on an end of term gig at bar 42 with all the artists
  • Record a live compilation album of the gig
  • record/release any material the artists are working on through the label

Objectives focusing on the artists –

  • Organise/Record the album/Ep of each artist and release them through the label
  • Promote and market the artists and any material they will be releasing through the label
  • Set up social network accounts and a wordpress site for the artists
  • Take press photos of the band
  • Organise/locate gigs for your artists to perform at

Over the course of the project i plan to keep records and evidence of work i have done by keeping a weekly reflection that critically analyses my progress from the last week. I will also put the gig i plan to arrange a week or two before end of term to leave evaluation time.

Areas i need to research into for this project are:

  • Other independent record labels
  • The musical landscape and local scenes within Worthing and Brighton
  • Local music blogs/magazines for marketing and promotion
  • Artists to do artwork
  • Photographers for press photographs
  • Promoters to help promote the end of term gig
  • Venues around Brighton and Worthing which i can organise gigs at for my aritsts

 

Roles i will be undertaking with this project:

    • A&R – I will be doing this in order to search for similar bands which would work well together and compliment each other live. I will also need to find session musicians to work with any solo acts i have signed
    • Marketing and Promotion – i will need to continuously market and promote the artists, the label and any material being released through my label.
    • PR – in support of the marketing and promotion i will need to look into the local music scenes and liaise with members of the public who would be interested in the artists i will be working with
    • Events management – i will need to undertake the role of an events management team for the gig i plan to put on, this will include some of the above roles and also new ones relating to events management.

 

  • Artist manager – If required by the artists i sign i will also be taking on the role of their manager. I will not require any additional charges for this service. This means that i can book session musicians, recording sessions, liaise with artists, photographers, session musicians, media etc…

 

 

FMP | Evaluation

For my final major project i set out to create an online record label and to work with artists on releasing new material and promoting them. The main focus of the project was to help me build up my marketing and promotion skills.

I feel like i began quite strong booking three gigs in April to host three of my artists at some point. Gig aspect i feel overall have gone quite well with some good gigs, some bad but ultimately i feel that i have learned more about timing, organisation and also building up bands by organizing these events.

One thing i have picked up was a technique shared to me from Mark Knowles of Bar 42. His idea for building up bands as headliners is to get a big headliner who will bring a crowd and then two local support bands who are quite well known within worthing. You put the band you with to build upon as main support or second support. This way if you get people who are coming to the gig to see the headline and maybe the second support band whilst your band are on main support they will most likely have to listen to that band. This is good as it means that you hopefully will get people who like the band you are choosing to promote and from this you do the same again with new support and headliners and the same main support band. People who attended the previous gig may think “hey, we saw that band last time, they were really good” and may want to come again. This is a long rinse and repeat process which takes time but has worked for Mark and is something i plan to put into practice with my artists for future events.

I feel another thing i have been good at in the project is the graphical side of things with posters and websites being designed for gigs and my artists. You can check out the main Hot Air Music website here, from there you will find links to artists wordpress and Facebook pages and also evaluations for each gig along with photos and the poster. Speaking of wordpress sites i have not really used the artists sites at all since creating them which is something i should have done to post stuff to then share the posts via Facebook and other social media sites to hopefully draw traffic to the main website,

One big aspect i feel i could have improved on much more was the marketing and promoting side of things. This is something i should have researched into a lot to ensure a bigger crowd to my gigs. My planning throughout the project has not been concise or frequent as well which is something i probably could have done to help me have a focus.

To summarize i feel i have definitely improved on my event management skills but i need to focus on marketing and promotion quite a lot. I also feel that maybe i need to develop Hot Air Music not as a label but more as a promotions company which can release music through and also promote artists, this is something i feel i will work on over the next few months.

 

Rock for Research [Part 2]: Sad Girls Club @ Bar 42

Last night was a better atmosphere i feel than last Tuesday, even though about the same amount of people came. I Feel that again the two main problems were promotion and date selection and they are something i need to improve on quite a lot if i want to begin making money from gigs.

Another problem i had was not listening to some of the bands maybe to put together a suitable lineup with similar music styles which work together. However despite this the bands were all really good.
Even though there were some minor issues it was a decent enough gig for a Tuesday at Bar 42, raising a nice £33 for Cancer Research totaling to £68 in total between the two events. Charity gigs are something i would definitely consider hosting again!

Lineup:

Photos by Leanne Cushnie

 

Rock for Research [Part 1]: Cascades @ Bar 42

Tuesday may not be the best night for a gig at Bar 42. Tonight was quite dead for the most part though we did make a nice £35 on the door in support of cancer research. I feel that the main problem with this one was the promotional aspect of the gig.

One major item i forgot to do at the beginning was contact Cancer Research and notify them to the fact that i was hosting two fundraising gigs for their charity. This is something that should have been done straight from the start when i decided on the charity to raise money for as they may have seen this and thought “hey, this guy is hosting a couple of gigs to raise money for our charity, may be in our interest to give some sort of coverage to boost the event”. Another floor was the fact that it was on Tuesday night which after talking to Mark Knowles, owner of Bar 42, i discovered that actually they don’t usually host gigs on a Tuesday and that is something i really should have looked into was the best dates where he usually gets the most customers.
Another thing to address was my set… actually let’s not talk about that

Lineup: