We thought his advice might be usful to some of the Audio Rokit members …

Joshua explains;

There are a few tips I would like to share with singers based on 1st hand experience of this type of process which has pretty much dominated the way some artists break into the music industry (both commercial and in musical theatre) for a least 5 years now.

One thing that needs to be understood is; at these types of audition there are literally thousands of people that will apply to have a chance to be heard, some of whom can sing to a good/intermediate/high standard and some who clearly can not.

Due to the sheer volume of applicants, a system of auditioning people has to be implemented in order to separate the chaff from the wheat. Once this is done, there is usually another check point where singers are sifted again to determine whether there is any spark or real potential to move people, entertain people or become a sellable product.

These checkpoints are usually manned by someone high up in the music world along side a musical professional such as a music producer or vocal expert etc… Once a singer makes it through this stage, then serious decisions have to be made.

Obviously auditioning systems like this work differently dependening on what the main objectives are or which company is behind the campaign.

Some systems are very “cattle market” focused, by this I mean people are often not treated very well and are expected to put up with whatever is thrown at them. Fortunately for me, the people behind the show I have been working on have prioritised people’s safety and well being and have also taken enormous measures to make sure that singers
feel comfortable, looked after and appreciated for their time.

So… here are my tips for singers walking through such doors in order to have a chance at getting their foot into the music world at a professional/commercial level.

1) Choose the right song…. A song can make or break a singer, this is such an important part of your preparation. Do a song that best shows of the BEST features of your voice and your musical style.

2) Own it…. the amount of times I have heard Adele’s “Some one like you”, don’t get me wrong, I love Adele, but do not come into an audition and just sing a carbon copy of the song mimicking all the vocal nuances and traits of that singer… do something that is tasteful but unique with the song too.

3) Bring it!…. you have a very short time to impress and this can usually be the opportunity that opens many other doors for you as a singer, do not go into an audition unclear of what you must do, go in there and “hit” them with your best performance that you have prepared and give it your best shot!

4) Prepare, prepare, prepare… The 5 “P’s” (Prepare & Perfect in Private in order to freely Perform in Public) There were some people that walked into the audition singing with lyrics in their hands, this is an absolute NO! Please prepare yourself in advance so that you can freely express publicly what you have studied and perfected in the private.

5) Image… Make sure you look great, do not go over the top, again be tasteful with what you wear and look trendy and comfortable in what you wear. Go with a very neutral look, so that you have the right balance of everything you want to be perceived as. Once you make it, there are fashion professionals that will take your image to the next level.

6) Confidence….It is such an awkward and nerve racking experience doing these types of auditions, do what ever it takes to ensure that you are confident in your ability as a singer… when the butterflies come and the legs turn to jelly, switch on your self belief, realise that you have worked hard to get to that point and that this is your chance to really shine and show what you have developed and worked on… it’s a bit like working on a painting you have been doing from scratch; first doing the outline, then the sketch then the colours and detail etc etc… eventually you are ready to display it and show everyone your master piece… believe in your ability and in the hard work you have done….take confidence in that!

7) Know who you are… sometimes rejection can be the worst thing to handle in any area of life… but knowing who you are before you put yourself into such situations is so important. This means even if you get a “NO” or “sorry you are not good enough”, even though this bruises our pride and wounds our ego’s, you have to walk out of there with your head held high and say to yourself, “this does not determine who I am becoming as a singer”.

Where you are now, is not where you will be in a years time if you keep working on your gift. Find a real professional that can give you an honest account of where you are as a singer and what you need to do to improve as a singer/artist and potentially if you really do have the talent to compete at that level.

Take that rejection as an opportunity to work harder and hone those skills and to get a good sense of artistic direction. Knowing who you are means that no matter what people say, you can still stand your ground and say to yourself, “what I have inside me is good enough to develop and I know I can come back again much stronger and better with some consistent hard work” or it might even be you saying.. “OK.. I gave it my best shot, and now I know that this is not what I want and this is not what I am gifted at” … and that is cool too.

I hope that this short write up has helped you gain a bit more perspective on this process.

Keep on doing YOUR THANG and thank you to Joshua Alamu who appears in association with Success Express Music

Total Biker FM is an influential radio station that we have been in talks with for some time. When we found out about their new Battle Of The Bands type competition we knew we had to be involved and let our members know.

For those of you that don’t know about the station, here is more info;

Total Biker FM was created by two friends on 31st May 2009. Both founders wanted to launch an internet based radio station mainly for the motorcycle community. Cool huh!

Very soon after their launch it was decided that Total Biker FM would be a non commercial internet radio station, with no annoying adverts for their listeners to endure. The stations biggest decision was to promote new and unsigned acts with as much commitment  as mainstream bands. The genre set for the station was always going to be Rock, Punk and Metal, it has remained this way from day one!

Since its inception in 2009 Total Biker FM has interviewed big names such as Lacuna Coil, The Lancashire Hotpots, Rik Mayall, Fozzy, MachineHead, Fear Factory, Helloween, Saxon, Tigertailz, Turisas, Europe, Psychostick,  Gun, Godsized, The Damned, XSM (ex Simple Minds), Nico’s Alchemy, Simon McBride and a number of up and coming bands.

They have also had a notable presence at Bulldog Bash, Sonisphere, Download, High Voltage, Highway to Hell 2, Hard Rock Hell 5 and many more events.

Total Biker FM in 2012

This year the station held their first ever ‘Total Biker FM New Music Awards’ and are sponsoring many events up and down the country as well as holding their second TBFM Factor competition, which is looking to be bigger and better than the previous one.

If you haven’t yet listened to one of their shows, be sure to tune in and tell all your friends. They guarantee no annoying radio adverts – ever!

Visit the website for details www.totalbikerfm.com

TBFM Factor 2012 – The biggest “on air” battle of the bands ever!

With so much talent out there Total Biker FM wanted to help promote unsigned bands, giving them a boost up the ladder by setting up a “fan voted competition”.

In 2010, the station was not fully prepared for what turned out to be such an amazing competition with over four million hits during the final week alone! Such a massive response ended up crashing their servers TWICE! The competition was such a great success that they decided to bring it back in 2012, bigger, better and more prepared!

The competition is set over 15 weekly knock-out phases. Music from 10 bands each week will get airplay on the SUnday Show on Total Biker FM  and then fans get to vote for 1 week on which band they believe should have a place in the final. On week 16 the epic final takes place.

A total of 16 bands will be selected for the final in which they’ll be featured on a special 4 hour show. They also get air play all through the following week and face the vote once again to find out who is crowned the ultimate winner.

The winning band is set to receive some great prizes including the top prize of an exclusive one album record deal with American label Ripple Music

So many more prizes are on offer for the finalists, ranging from musical equipment to website memberships.

Finalist prizes include;

1st place – 3 months membership on Audio Rokit
2nd place – 2 months membership on Audio Rokit
3rd,4th and 5th – 1 month membership on Audio Rokit

Registration closes on 31st March 2012 and the competition gets under way on June 10th 2012 with the grand final in September 2012.

To enter see their listing here: http://audiorokit.co.uk/auditions/685

For more information or to see who has already entered check here: http://www.tbfmfactor.com/

Why am I being asked to upgrade?

Feb 6th 2012 - Some users on the Basic plan are being asked to upgrade in order to submit music. All Basic plan members should be able to submit music to any of our listings and we are working to resolve this issue. We hope to have this fixed within 24 hours.

This is now Fixed

Why am I asked to download something when clicking on song or opportunity?

Feb 6th 2012

A handful of users have seen an errors recently that asks them to download a file when they click on a photo or opportunity link.  Please simply ignore the download request and rest assured we are working to fix this issue. We have classed it as slightly less urgent than some other jobs but still we hope to resolve this within one week.

Upload Song Issue

Feb 5th 2012 - Song upload feature is not currently working due to several coding issues. This error was caused as a result of changing payment processing provider which required extensive programming throughout the site. We anticipate a fix for this issue within a few days.

This is now Fixed

Upload Photo Issue

Feb 5th 2012 - Photo upload feature is not currently working due to several coding issues. This error was caused as a result of changing payment processing provider which required extensive programming throughout the site. We anticipate a fix for this issue within a few days.

This is now Fixed

Update Payments & Make Payments

Feb 5th 2012 - Currently users can not update their payment details or subscribe to a paid plan. We anticipate a fix for this issue within one day.

This is now Fixed

Sign Up Issues

Feb 5th 2012 - New users looking to sign up may experience error pages. We anticipate a fix for this issue within one day.

This is now Fixed

Industry Sign Ups

Feb 5th 2012 - We have closed off industry sign ups for this week only. We will be taking new industry sign ups from Feb 14th 2012.

This is now Fixed

But, unlike most “self help” doctrine that promotes a quick fix for almost everything, my belief is that real and lasting change requires time for repeated action, time for the brain to rewire for the job!

Many will retort sharply at this notion claiming that they are a product of their inherited genes and that they can no more change their brain as change their eye colour. But we may not be completely at the mercy of our biological make-up after all.

Neuroscientists have challenged the ‘hard-wired brain’ theory, suggesting instead that the human brain is extraordinarily plastic – a rather astute philosopher known as Buddha said the same many years before! It has been known for some time that in exceptional cases, victims of extreme brain trauma have regained function as a result of the brain “rewiring” and reallocating neurons.

Talent?

Countless athletes, musicians, sports personalities and other high achievers claimed to have had a below average ability in their chosen field when they started out. Yet, through dedication and hard work they managed to become world class.

Whilst it is true that our genes create who we are, it is also true that our experiences shape our genes over time. Even Shakespeare understood this nature nurture balance and no doubt many other high achievers did also.

Being the best at something simple means that our brain is wired appropriately for the job. The hippocampus (just below the cerebral cortex) deals with spatial awareness. So, if you want to be a world class racing driver you’ll want to grow your hippocampus by repeated training. And here is a secret that will blow your mind; doing something over and over grows the part of the brain needed to get the job done. I know you knew that already, but think about it for a second. Amazing right!

There is a strong correlation between people with attention deficit disorder and television viewing in early childhood for example. Being spoon fed fast paced images and brightly coloured adverts means that the brain has no need to learn how to concentrate or amuse itself. [Those who meditate invariably have a larger and more developed frontal lobe cortex].

Cause and Effect

I know what your thinking, could this be an issue of cause and effect. Do people meditate because they started out with a larger frontal lobe cortex? And, are children who are predisposition to have attention deficit disorder more attracted to the TV in the first place.

Most evidence suggest not. In fact, the human brain is so ready to learn and wire itself that babies who receive no stimulus when they’re first born can have lasting (and severe) brain damage. The brain needs to change, learn and adapt to whatever you do the most. Repeated action forces the brain to create new connections and find quicker and more effortless routes for transferring “data” from neuron to neuron.

That is not to say it is easy, especially when attempting to change personality traits that are deep seated, but learning to play an instrument or becoming a skillful sportsman is in every sense about applying consistent practice, something that anyone can do if they have the time and inclination.

Learning to be Creative

Can this “rewiring” of the brain apply to creativity? This may be very controversial but I believe it can. I believe that practising at being creative will improve your brains sensitivity to creative thoughts and ideas. Lionel Richie said that he felt as though ‘his “antenna” went up during a creative phase in his life’. I personally have experienced my “creative juices” flowing much more freely during extended periods (months) of song writing. Ideas seem to come easier and this must be due to the rewiring and excersising of specific brain areas.

The practical aspects of taking control of your brain is amazing. To have power and control over your brain (and your so called “natural” ability) is life changing.

My Experience of Brain “Rewiring”

My first conscious experience of this was as a drummer. Early in my learning stage I wanted to develop more limb independence. That simply means I wanted my right arm to do something different to my left leg whilst my right leg did something different to my right arm. Don’t worry, it’s harder than it sounds!

I started by trying one of the toughest independent exercises a drummer can attempt, playing a specific pattern called a paradiddle with the hands and simultaneously playing a half time paradiddle with the feet. You don’t need to know what a paradiddle is, just believe me that  no human was ever born with the innate (natural) ability to perform this multi limb exercise!

To begin with I could feel my brain ache. I could feel that my brain had no way of disassembling the task and no way of summoning the vast amount of “data” required to process such a demand. Quite simply, my brain was not wired for the task at all. It felt hopeless.

I continued to practice, breaking the actions down into smaller more manageable chunks. Suddenly I was aware that I could comprehend parts of the overlapped paradiddle and over the next few days a kind of compounding happened where the more I comprehended, the faster my brain was able to comprehend more. This reached a critical mass after a week or so and I was able to do it effortlessly, without conscious thought. In fact, at this point, consciously thinking about what I was doing would cause me to mess up.

As Einstein said, if you do ANYTHING for an hour a day with focus and intent to improve, you will be an expert after just one year. I recently decided to learn to solve the Rubiks Cube and despite there being three million, million, million different combinations, just an hour a day for two or three weeks was all it took for my brain to develop the correct neural network for the job. The rock band City Of Ashes challenged me to a race to solve the Cube before they finish their new song – watch the video

I Can’t Do That!

I get frustrated when my mum says “I could never do that”. I can accept if someone doesn’t want to do something, but I cannot accept that someone with a healthy brain cannot achieve anything. Just imaging how powerful the compounding effect would be with years of intent and consistent practice.

Believe it or Not

Einstein wasn’t any cleverer than you or I, he just studied much, much harder and for much, much longer. He was average at maths and attributed his success to allowing himself to be creative and think for years on one single problem.

Michael Jordan is no more naturally gifted at basket ball than you or I, he just played for more hours than anyone else. He himself admits that he wasn’t talented and attributes his excellence to the fact he played more than any other human.

Pavarotti is NOT a “natural” singer. He was in fact told to give up because he was not ‘cut out for the job’. Pavarotti decided to be a great singer and when a human decides to do something with full unwavering intent, it’ll get done. Pavarotti could have been an incredible football player, gymnast or businessman if that was his all consuming desire.

So, what do you want to be?

It really doesn’t matter what it is, it only matters that you definitely want to achieve it. Give your brain time to rewire itself. Practice is a means to an end and shouldn’t be rushed, but it should be consistent because that is all the brain demands. The brain does not require natural ability, it does not require extreme intensity, it doesn’t even require unrealistic measures of time, it only requires consistency.

Our latest chums happen to be Live and Unsigned, which is the UK’s largest national music competition for original unsigned acts and bands. Not a bad friend to have huh! Over 40,000 musicians from across the country enter their competitions every year … that’s huge!

We’ve started doing some cross promotion with Live and Unsigned and hope to develop the relationship over time. Both Live and Unsigned and Audio Rokit share a common passion for getting bands and artists discovered.

There will be a fly-on-the-wall series on the Live and Unsigned competition on Sky TV very soon. The documentary airing next year, will give an insight into what goes on behind the scenes of the competition. The series will go beyond the glitz and glamour of the music industry and follow emerging bands and solo acts as they aim for stardom.

We know from our own history of playing in bands (yes, we’re musicians ourselves!) that there are many dramas and divas out there, which could make quite an interesting show! We’re told that it will be like Airline and Pineapple Studios stirred with the high stakes of The X Factor and all the real life unpredictability of The Apprentice!

Live and Unsigned founder Chris Grayston says;

Live and Unsigned shows really can range from the sublime to the ridiculous, and that’s just on stage! Backstage can be just as entertaining with the Live and Unsigned staff attempting to coordinate hundreds of wannabe bands and soloists.

You can watch ‘The Making Of A Star’ on SKY 201 and freesat 403 Sunday 8th & 15th January 9pm

For more information about Live and Unsigned: www.liveandunsigned.uk.com

Grooveshark.com have shown Audio Rokit their support from day one and we continue to work together on mutual promotions.

Our latest collaboration is particularly exciting. We’ve teamed up with Grooveshark.com to select 5-10 Audio Rokit members every month who will receive up to 20,000 promotional radio plays on the Grooveshark Radio. With more than 30 million monthly listeners you can see that this would be a HUGE boost to your career! Submit your music NOW!

The cost for this campaign would normally be $200 – $800, but very soon (early 2012) all our fully subscribed members will be in the mix to be chosen each month for a FREE Grooveshark marketing campaign.

Aside from our campaign, Grooveshark.com offers dedicated radio campaigns for all artists with competitive pricing plans available.

We looked at a case study from an artist called Porter Robinson who used their service. Porter benefited from a 30,000 play campaign ($1200 value) which is open to any artist by clicking here. At one point in the promotional campaign, Porter was getting 13,000 plays a week.

Grooveshark Radio Campaigns enable artists to rapidly grow their audience by targeting fans of in-demand similar artists with their own selected works. The campaign intelligently recommends the selected songs in Grooveshark Radiountil the fixed number of spins run out. From the first play to the last, artists can track their growth with the analytic data they collect. If you would like more info and statistics on the Grooveshark dedicated radio campaigns, you can download their PDF info pack here

All in all we are excited and proud to bring our members more opportunity for exposing their music with companies like Grooveshark.com

We were only too pleased to support the BASCA members and offer them a discount because we feel BASCA do an awesome job.

BASCA exists to support and protect the artistic, professional, commercial and copyright interests of songwriters, lyricists and composers of all genres of music and to celebrate and encourage excellence in British music writing. This is something we want to support and we hope that our new partnership with develop to the point where we can offer more to our own members further down the line.

BASCA’s primary function is to campaign for the rights of UK music writers, but they are also well known for presenting the Ivor Novello Awards, the Gold Badge Awards and the British Composer Awards.

To find out more about BASCA and to join up, click here

So what is today’s price tag? Amazingly, we discovered that a couple of musicians recently secured features with major UK artists for £10,000. Still a hefty sum but perhaps with a bit of haggling and a bank loan at a reasonable interest rate there is something worth exploring here!

The value of appearing on a famous artists album can be huge, but it needs to be exploited to the MAX. You should be considering laying down a marketing plan with your manager way before any recording is done. There are lots of things to consider to make sure you maximise the quality and longevity of your exposure.

If you think you’d be interested in learning more about this we can help, simply email us to talk more about our industry contacts and how to explore this exciting new “artist collaboration” strategy.

We spoke to Jay Raser from Edge Avenue Music who had this to say;

I was saying years ago that legal downloads would be massive once the majority of households had PCs, iPhones, iPods etc. Wait until China and India catch up, that’s 2 billion extra people!

What do we think?

We think that there will be a definite tipping point when “paid for” downloads will hold so much value that any free alternative will be become way less attractive. When a single song download can be bought for 20p and come with extras such as the “making of” video, exclusive backstage info and other free give-aways then users will switch from free to paid in their millions!

Give more, more, more

The key is to offer more in the way of interaction, live performance offers and the ability to personalise downloads. The Kaiser Chiefs recently allowed fans to create a version of their new album by picking from a selection of new songs and sleeve designs to create a personalised product.

This concept of personalisation could go a step further by allowing fans to pick from a pre-recorded selection of choruses for each track so that they can effectively build their perfect arrangements before downloading.

It is certainly encouraging to see an upward trend in downloads and we expect this trend to continue as technology improves and record labels offer added value to their artists fans.

But … there’s a but!

There is indeed a “but”, and that is because the increase in legal downloads is only being felt by famous artists and bands. Unless you are publicly known you will experience the same challenges as always. As tempting as it is to think that an unknown artist can generate huge download figures, it is sadly very unlikely. That is why we created Audio Rokit, the song pitching platform to help talented musicians connect with people who can help develop and gain public awareness, thus driving sales and exposure.

A lesson in history

Here is an excerpt from a blog called 10 Recording Studio Myths written by Apple Beam recording studios in which they talk about the multi-platinum recording artist, Moby and how he valued building connections in the industry over the DIY approach that so many artists claim is the best way.

Moby is a great talent, but not so great as to say that he has an exclusive right to musical success! In fact, there were many talented emerging artists around at the time Moby was trying to develop his music career. So, why did Moby achieve so much success whilst his peers achieved none?

Moby once said that he believed his success over his peers was due to the fact that he recognised he can not do everything himself. Whilst other bands were handing out leaflets, booking their own gigs and releasing their own records, Moby concentrated on building relationships with experts in each field (managers, booking agents etc). A year on, he had a team who were willing to help him whilst his peers were still handing out flyers and trying to get their own gigs.

The key was knowing where to put his energy and Moby decided that a DIY approach (doing everything himself) was not the best way to move his career forward.

There is good reason why all the famous bands you know have record company backing, a PR company, a manager, a tour manager, a booking agent and many more experts in their team. You simply can not do everything and compete on a professional level […] Read the Blog: 10 Recording Studio Myths

Audio Rokit, launched in December 2010, has become the most affordable song-pitching site in the world that guarantees feedback. A pretty impressive claim seeing as they had no financial backing, no office, and until very recently, no coffee machine!

Audio Rokit’s goal is to save musicians time, money and hassle when sending their material to music companies. Audio Rokit makes the connections and allows industry representatives to request music from musicians.

All musicians have to do is use the built-in song submission platform. This is the most efficient way to submit music directly to any of the hundreds of music companies listed on their website, all of which are all actively seeking new talent.

We spoke to Darren Monson, founder of Audio Rokit about the journey so far;

Launching Audio Rokit

Launching Audio Rokit was extremely exciting, not least because we’d ran almost six months over schedule and couldn’t wait any longer! On December 15th 2010 we could finally ignite our engines and launch our musicians song pitching platform to the world.

Day one was fantastic, we were able to make use of all the contacts we’d built up over the last 6 months and announce our arrival. There was a lot of activity and congratulation emails which was very encouraging, but sadly no sign-ups!

We had an awful “catch 22” in that musicians would not sign up if there weren’t any listed industry opportunities, and industry wouldn’t sign up if there were no musicians. We had to “seed” the site with a few template examples to get the ball rolling.

The First Member To Join

Finally, at 2pm on the day of launch we saw our first member join. It was very so exciting to think that someone had joined who wasn’t a friend or family member! By the end of that day we’d had about five people sign up and a couple of industry listings that we were able to get by speaking to the right people. Over the course of the first week we had several dozen musician join and a nice steady flow of excellent industry opportunities. The site was up and it was working!

Money Troubles

We didn’t start the business with any outside funding so money was always going to be an issue. It’s surprising how expensive a website is to run, we have about 10 different web app services that we need to pay for in order to provide our members with the best possible service, which adds up and is the reason why so many web start ups fail in their first year.

I have never taken a penny from Audio Rokit because as the founder I want to see Audio Rokit grow. We’re a very young company, less than a year old, and investing all profit back into development makes total sense to me.

The Right Team

However, I was very lucky to have met our first employee, Dave who got the bigger picture straight away. Dave worked for Audio Rokit on a greatly reduced pay, he understood that a start up needs breathing space and his commitment, focus and energy to Audio Rokit has meant that we have been able to grow significantly in the first year. Dave is now a shareholder in the company and plays a central role in our development.

Milestones

Certain milestones have stood out for us. Hitting 10 pages of musician members in our Talent Directory was significant, reaching 100 industry listings and breaking 100 paid members were all moments that I remember as cause for celebration. But probably the biggest milestone was when we placed our first industry opportunity from a major record label. We knew then that we were delivering an absolutely awesome service to our members!

As we grew we noticed that our website traffic was topping 100,000 on some months which blew us away. As a result we were able to talk with bigger companies and partner with them, such as Surface Festival and GrooveShark.

We were invited to judge at the 2011 Surface Festival “Battle of the Bands. It was an honour to sit alongside fellow judges Alex Baker (Kerrang Radio Unsigned Show) and Jon Brookes (The Charlatans) to judge the final 21 bands (whittled down from 14,000!)

More recently we have been nominated for The Good Web Guide 2011 and The People’s Choice 2011 which has been a real morale boost for us!

Biggest Achievement

It took us a long time to be able to achieve guaranteed feedback without charging our members for each individual submission. We’re not aware that anyone else in the world is doing this. Sounds crazy but it was very hard to achieve, in fact we blogged about it here

Future Plans

Our plans for the future are simple. The first quarter of 2012 will be devoted to improving many of our features, making our song pitching platform even simpler and more powerful. We’ve been in a whirlwind of activity but we have never lost sight of our core business and we’re fully aware that business that try and grow too quickly often fail to deliver what the customer needs.

The second and third quarters of 2012 will be the implementation and launch of new marketing tools to help grow our business. We also have several new tools for both our musician and industry members which we’re excited to launch.

And, finally toward the end of 2012 we hope to take on two extra staff to ensure our service remains as personal and customer centric as always.