Kayla
Hello,
Got someone for you all to have a listen to, she's got a lot to say so I'll keep my bit down to a minimum.
- A new addition to the format today though. Aswell as presenting an artist for you to listen to, there will now be links to some of the other tracks that the A&R staff here have commented on. See the bottom of this post for more details.
Kayla is 20 years old and has been working hard a her music career for a while now. She's been playing venues around London and the SE including the Jazz Cafe, click here for some footage from that gig.
Here are the tracks, have a listen and see what you think:
Ladykiller
Looking at your bio you mention you came from the Brit School. What's the most important thing you've learned recently that the Brit School couldn't teach you?
The main thing I’ve learnt since leaving The BRIT School is the truth about the music industry as a whole. That’s something that no-one can be taught in a lesson or on paper. We had industry lesson’s but the fact is the music industry, as I’ve experienced it, is just not that straight forward. It’s a cut throat business where only the strongest and most determined survive. Sorry to sound so dramatic but there’s a lot of truth in that statement, you have to be up for the challenge. You need patience, drive, ambition, determination and commitment. There’s no real way to explain to or teach someone about how the music industry works or how to get your big break. Its all a game of chance and you’ve really got to build a thick skin if you want in.
It seems everyone now wants a musical career, do you think that this is a good thing or are a lot of people simply getting into it for potentially the wrong reasons?
I’m a bit in the middle about that. I think its always a positive thing to have more people trying make music their long term career. There are so many genre’s and ideas to explore that having more people try new things and develop new sounds is nothing but a good thing but only if they are in it for the right reasons.
We live in a society that’s obsessed with celebrity right now so there are many people that want a career in music just so they can get a chance to parade down a red carpet every other week or be in the best dressed list with a footballer on their arm in their favourite magazine. Becoming a part of the music industry for the purpose of gaining celebrity seems to be the more likely reason for many and I do not agree with that at all. Having a platform to share your music with the public is a privilege that far too many people have been allowed to abuse .There aren’t enough singer/songwriters or actual musicians being signed right now. Label’s need to wise up and start signing acts with the potential to achieve longevity in the music industry not acts with the potential to have one or two top ten singles who then fizzle out and end up on a reality TV show. That’s not what music is about for me.
Judging from your background, and listening to the recordings, you're quite comfortable in the studio. What advice could you give for those entering recording for the first time?
My advice would be to practice the song or songs your recording before you go to the studio. In most cases, studio sessions can be costly so you want to be able to make the most of the time you have. By practicing your songs before your session, your time can used more productively. You spend less time recording the same vocal and trying to achieve a “good take”. With practice you know your song and how you best deliver it.
At the same time it’s a good idea to try new things. I’ve found that, at times, the best results are achieved by being spontaneous and just going for it. Your allowed to make mistakes and get things wrong in the studio. It’s the best place to find ways to make your vocal performance sound better and also to add to or take away from whats already there. It’s all about capturing a great sound while your there so I’d say try to be well practiced but also be open to new ideas.
How have you been promoting yourself and what have you found to be most useful online and offline?
I like to mix it up a bit as far as promotion is concerned. I have found that the internet is a brilliant place to promote my work. I can make contact with people all over the world that might not have heard of me otherwise. I found sites like Vox.com and MySpace to be very helpful. I’ve made some great contacts and have quite a loyal following. People all over the world have listened to my music, know who I am and love what I’m doing. That kind of promotion, without the aid of a record company, is also priceless.
Offline I’ve found that doing gigs is also another great way to promote my material and myself as an artist. You never know who your performing to, you’ll find the most unexpected people in the most unexpected places. So every performance is an opportunity to gain more following and to catch the eyes and ears of that one person or those people that could change everything. Even just going to a lot of live gigs is a good way to promote yourself. Not only are you keeping up with what the music scene currently has on offer but you can get talking to all kinds of people. They could be your regular music lover, a scout from a booking agencey or even an A&R from a lable. Who knows. What is clear is that both live performaces and web pages are a brilliant way to promote my music.
What are your honest thoughts on this blogging platform and similar?
I think that its great. These days its very difficult to gain recognition from the people that you need to take notice, i.e. the public, record lables, producers and so on. You can’t just walk into a lable, sing your songs and get signed anymore . Many of the top major labels are merging and, as a result, are signing fewer acts, so your left with a limited number of options available to you in order to have someone at a lable pay attention. Blogging pages, like this one, are a great way of giving someone a quick insight into what you are about and what you have to offer. People can listen to your tracks, read up on your back ground, your experience and also get some insight into the person behind the songs. They spark an interest in people to want to find out more about the artist. I think pages like this one are a breath of fresh air and are very important to artists and the future of the music industry.
What would be the one piece of advice you would give someone when presenting their material to a label, and promoting themselves?
My advice would be to know you product, your musical direction and your market. I’ve found that labels would prefere to sign an act wherein the workload and financial investment required from them is significantly reduced. Very rarely do you hear of labels offering development deals these days which is a real shame but is, nonetheless, a fact so I would say do your best to cut down the artist development side of things. Try to show that there is an obvious following and or clear public interest in what your doing. That way the label knows there is a market for your product. Know your story, how you want to be portrayed to the public and where you want to go with your career. The most profitable kind of artist is an artist with the potential to maintain longetivity within the music business and keep a continuous cash flow coming. Labels want to profit from siging an act, this is business at the end of the day so do your best to ensure your showing your potential to do that. Get people talking about you, knowing who you are and what your doing. If you have a solid product that people believe in then the rest is, potentially, history. I would also advise artists to get writing. Being able to write your own songs is a big plus.Not only is it better from a marketing prespective(the public are hearing the thoughts and feelings of the artists not the thoughts and feelings of there person who wrote to song for the artist) but its far more cost effective not to have to hire writers. Being able to write songs is also a plus in the sense that it opens up opportunity for the lable to also bring a publishing deal to the table. Therein lies an additional profit for both artist and lable.Like I said, this is business at the end of the day so get your business thinking caps on! :-)
Have a listen, see what you think. Also, what do you think on her view of working as an artist in the busniness?What have been your experiences of promoting yourself and what do you find works.
If you're interested in how the other side works, have a look at Ged's blog this week where Anna, Goodbooks' manager has guest posted about what happens within the label with the release of an album.
Ok, as mentioned above here are some of the tracks our A&R guys have been listening to:
Jo and the Flood - Which Way Do You Come From
Comments
And what do you think to her? Yes, you the man/woman who picked her: tell me what you think please. Now that would be interesting - and no bland niceties, lol.
And you point us to '...some of the tracks our A&R guys have been listening to.' Do you like these songs/artists. Is this what we must aspire to? Or should we just be ourselves, wait and hope for the 'devil-finger' to point at us? Or are you hoping to 'test the water' with their inclusion here?: 'I like them, but I'm not sure what others may think. Ah, I'll stick them on the blog and then I might get some feedback to reinforce/erode my opinion.'
This is not a facetious question: besides being something to pass the time of day on a changeable Monday afternoon, what is this page for? Thanks - Al
You A&R boys have dropped the ball...are you really convinced we need another American mainsteram Hip Hop chick ?... the market is saturated with that look and sound.
Whoever is doing the PR for this kid should stop trying to sell her as a veteran musician/artist and promote her for what she is... a young talented singer who needs singing lessons and a more original image.
Regards, Cubist Cash
Hello,
She was picked as her music stood out in the recent submissions and on conversation with her it seemed that she would make a good contribution to the page.
As for the A&R links section, my only advice would be to aspire to creating tracks you are happy with rather than trying to emulate something else.
Thanks for the comment
RCAD
I don't expect to be signed. I'm a sad 51, set in my ways, heard it all before - I write/record/post stuff here mainly for my own pleasure. But, there are people who come here for enlightenment and exposure, yet find only the darkness of worn-out old phrases, stock niceties and pleasantries - deflection and evasion. Some informed critical analysis would go a long way.
What do you see as your role (sorry, can't do the accent) here then Mr/Mrs/Ms A&R? Are you here to nurture talent and give advice? Or are you merely Cherry-pickers? If the former: write us articles yourself. You are, after all, the only ones who really know what you want. Kayla's opinions were very well written, but in the end, that's all they were: her opinions. Where do you stand on all this? Write us some good quality, educational articles; about the industry as you see it. Pick out an artist/some audio/lyrics/publicity shots, and tell us what you think is right/wrong/good/bad/mediocre. Matt Morris seems to be doing it for you, but Matt holds no sway. You do. Tell us, please. From the horse's mouth. Thanks - Al
Hi Cubist Cash,
I do feel you have misinterpreted the purpose of this blog and the reasons why I was asked those questions. This blog is about sharing music and opinions. Nothing I have said should be taken as gospel, my responses are based on my own personal experiences and opinions. Surely we are all entitled to that much regardless of age? To dismiss someone largely because they are young doesn’t seem fair to me. Whilst age may afford a person wisdom and experience (among many other things) it does not take away the validity of a younger persons experience and views.
You will note that most, if not all of the questions asked included the phrases “…what have you learned…”, “…do you think....” and “…what’s your advice…”. The questions were merely seeking insight into my thoughts, opinions and experiences. Nothing more.
At the same time is should also be said that musical tastes will differ for each person and I completely respect your choice of musical preference, even if my music can’t be included within your preference. BUT what this industry needs and doesn’t need cannot be determined by one individual. As they say one mans meat is another mans poison so only the majority could decide especially since personal preference tends to be based largely on individual perception. What one person might like, another person might not.
I do believe it to be an unfair assumption on your part to instantly pigeon hole me in to the “American mainstream Hip Hop chick” category. While I do respect your opinion, as I believe we are all equally entitled to one without question, I do feel that it was an easy assumption to make. “Enough Of You”, “Lady Killer” and “Overload” certainly don’t scream “American mainstream Hip Hop chick” to me. But maybe that’s just me?
I wouldn’t like it to seem as though I am rubbishing your opinions. As harsh as they come across, there is always something to take from what another person has to say. I fully respect and appreciate that you may not agree with some of the things I have said and that you may not like what I am doing and I respect your honesty.
This is precisely why there are so many genres of music; we can all choose what we want to listen to.
Obviously the A&R guys are trying to make the blog magazine like with insight and interviews with bands. And they're looking to aim it at a young audience not older musicians that never got it. I wouldn't read into the interviews too much, it's just filler. In this business you've got to be self-sufficient not paternalistic. It's not the record industry's job to pay you for what you do. In fact we should be grateful a record label started this blog which allows some of us here to network. And I think to say this girl needs singing lessons is a bit far fetched. Her voice is more than adequate. I think what you're expecting is originality and edge which is idealistic. Let's not use a highlighted artist as a sacrifical lamb here.
I'm totally bemused by this... I really don't think Al is rubbishing your opinions at all, just questioning what all this means... which I have to say I'm also doing.
What is this about? Are they going to sign you then? I really don't get it...
Hi Small Grey Rabbit,
My above comment was not in response to what Al Stravinsky was saying, I responded to a comment made by someone called Cubist Cash. I've received messages from Al on my profile before and I know his comments have no ill will, he's simply making observations and stating his opinons which I totally stand by.
RCA have not asked to sign me. This blog was posted because one of the A&R guys liked my material and wanted to feature me on this blog in order for other people to have a listen to my songs and see what I am about. It's simply about providing the vox users with access to different kinds of music and allowing them to find out more about different artists.
Kayla
What happened was: my second comment wasn't published till later. Bev's was (20th July), then Kayla answered, then Frederick and Matt...THEN mine was squeezed in there somehow, sort of back-dated. So, Bev, Kayla, Fred and Matt wrote theirs without seeing my second comment. Now it's there it doesn't make much sense at all... And no-one answers... It's like a Samuel Beckett play.
Crickey, this all seems quite hostile.
I am not overly fond of Kayla's musical stylings, far from it (sorry Kayla) but I do appreciate her thoughts and certainly her talents. You can't deny her of that.
I can't say I was confused about why I was reding the interview/article though - it was there to give Kayla her due coverage and to let her voice her opinions and I should also imagine it was posted as some people may find it helpful, insightful or interesting. Also I think the who age issue is massively unfair. What's to say Kayla doesn't know more about the industry than any of us put together? I mean, she's the one who has this big article and all this response/feeback so she must be doing something right...
No?
Thanks Kayla for all the advice. Andrew Sutton, Dublin, Ireland