Pacific Coast Highway – Nils

So you finished your CD, what now?

nilsmusic — Sat, 09 Dec 2017 01:22:19 +0000

I just returned from mastering my new CD and I am glad that this part of the process is finished. But there are many more steps for releasing a successful album. So for me this just means to switch gears and focus on the next steps.

I made a list of all the things I want to have in place by release date 3 months from now.

Photo shoot
CD cover and booklet design, credits
Live arrangements / backing tracks
Copyright and performing rights registration of new songs
Music Video shoot
Promo videos
Create secondary product(s)
Setup social media campaign
Press releases
Update website

I will address these points one by one in the following weeks in my blog series.

Depending on your situation there might be additional items you need to get together or pay attention to. If you are fully independent you will have to press CDs and find distribution, and design a marketing, advertising and radio campaign. If you don’t have a press kit yet, then you better get on it. If this all sounds overwhelming you might benefit from the expertise of an expert like Kim Giles of Independent Artist Services. http://www.independentartistservices.com

Kim has been working with many independent artist to give them guidance and direction to get their careers going. And she is an expert in helping them plan an independent CD release and marketing campaign. Her fees are reasonable and are well worth the investment, since she also can obtain discounts for her clients for some of the services needed.

For myself, first on my list is a photo shoot. I will need new photos for the album cover, for my website, for press photos and for an internet campaign. I want to go with my friend Jürgen Reisch (www.jurgenreisch.com) to make that happen. Jürgen is an outstanding photographer. He has a photo studio in Hollywood where he does a lot of fashion photography but also has some quite impressive credits for album covers, like Prince, Earth Wind and Fire and Nils ( Pacific Coast Highway and Ready to Play) :o)

Once I have the photos, we will have to get on the design of the album cover and booklet next.

For the cover I want a photo that will stand out through color and design. That photo then will be worked over, manipulated, cropped and played out with album title and artist name. This is the most important part of the process , because the cover is the calling card of the CD. I always try to imagine what my CD will look like in a rack amidst various other CDs. If it draws my eye to it, it’s a great cover. I am also a good idea to create a unified look from web site to album cover to fb page etc. It’s part of a branding strategy and will help to re-enforce the image.

For the booklet I already assembled the album credits and wrote my Thank You-s. I always create a file with production notes, while I am working on a CD. That file includes budget, song titles, Publishing info, a to-do-lists and also the players that played on each track. A album production can easily take a year or even longer and sometimes it is be hard to remember who played on which song, if you use different musicians. Designing the layout for the booklet, the back cover and the CD face can be a very creative and fun process. I enjoy it, but I’m not always the best suited for the job. I am lucky to have help from the record label, when my graphic design skills just don’t cut it.

All this can take a couple weeks or more to get finished, and then there is the time it takes to print the booklet and art work, so don’t underestimate how long this can take.

In my next blog I will address further points on my list, so stay tuned. And if you haven’t joined my mailing list. Please do so and be part of the fan club. It comes with various perks, gifts and discounts. you can join at www.nilsguitar.com

The artist’s need to create

nilsmusic — Fri, 17 Apr 2015 23:47:54 +0000

As part of my 2009 “Backstage Pass with Nils” Interview series I had a conversation with Brian Simpson and we touched on the subject of the changes in the music business. Record labels started to feel the shift from CD sales to downloads. Many Smooth Jazz radio Stations changed format so the outlet for this type of music shrank considerably. Just think that in 2005, when my hit song “Pacific Coast Highway” was # 1 it took 750 spins per week to hold that spot. This week Brian Culbertson’s brilliant song “Think Free” holds the spot solid with 300 spins and 40 spins lead to #2. It’s easy to understand why labels got nervous and many musicians too.

But as I discovered in the interview, Brian was staying very busy. He worked as Dave Koz’s music director, kept writing his own material and he is still going strong today. One thing that stuck out in the interview was that Brian said the format needs more original material. I’m paraphrasing: “ It needs to evolve, otherwise it’s going to die, and the only way to do that is by introducing more new original material.” That is a sentiment I whole-heartedly agree with. Brian went on to say that he always works on writing as much new and good material as he can, and when he runs out of ideas he approaches other songwriters to supply him with tunes.

Brian has been doing well in the last years since this interview. He just released a new CD entitled “Out of a Dream”. And I am happy to see him in the charts. True to his believes he approached various songwriters to help him and collaborate on the CD. I was one of them. The opening track “One of a kind” was my contribution. Brian took my idea and put his own spin on it. The result is a nice mix of Nils’ upbeat grooves and Brian’s sensual piano playing.

Brian recognized that the key to an artist’s resilience is flexibility and good original material. This attitude has served him well. Every great artist I can think of is associated, if not defined by an original song.

I have been writing more songs the last two years alone, than in the 5 years before. I expanded my work into producing new and upcoming artists, as well as writing songs for established artists. Of course I try to keep the best stuff for myself. And therefore I feel that my upcoming album, to be released later this year, will be the strongest work I have done in years.

The only advice I can give is to write as much as you can. Realize that not every song is going to be a masterpiece. But if you keep writing eventually you’ll come up with something great. And if you can’t and need more material to make your album stand out, give me a call.

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Don’t pigeonhole me

nilsmusic — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 04:49:23 +0000

Breaking the boundaries of your genre

I realized that a side effect of many of us artists starting to self-promote, is that it gives us also more freedom to find our true voice.
The way the music industry evolved since the 90s had been a big obstacle to many artists, who don’t fit a certain mold. Careers have been more and more defined in a narrow stylistic niche to fit a certain radio format. Especially Smooth jazz radio was notorious in that regard. Some artist struggle to find songs in their repertoire that perfectly fit a genre. Others might adapt their style to gain access to the exposure radio offers. But as the saying goes: “Be careful what you write, you might have a hit”. Meaning that you might have to play that song for the rest of your life, even if you hate it. Bobby McFerrin – ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy” and Tina Turner – ‘What’s Love Got To Do with It” come to mind. My life changed when we released Pacific Coast Highway, which the most played SJ song from 2000-2010. This song threw me into the scene and gave me a career. Fortunately, I really like this song and I have no problem playing every time I perform. When I look back at my career though, I remember that I started off playing Rock and Pop, then Funk, which led me to Jazz-Funk, later called Fusion and now morphed into Smooth Jazz. I also write for Commercials, Television and had a few cues in movies.
But I always feel uneasy when people call me a Jazz guitarist. This is just one small aspect of my ability of a player and writer, but it’s what I am best known for. Last year I produced and recorded the music for the Independent Spirit Awards. I was especially excited about the project, because I was asked to produce alternative Rock music. It gave me the ability to showcase some of my other talents on the ‘big stage’ of television.

What many people don’t realize, is that many artists have a variety of talents and interests far beyond of what they are known for.
My friend, violinist Dov is another great example. By most accounts he is known as a New Age artist. However his interests far exceed that genre. I produced a Smooth-Jazz/Chill CD for him entitled “Journey To Eden”, featuring many greats of this format. He also writes Pop–Rock songs, that remind me of Coldplay and similar bands. We actually went into the studio and recorded some tracks with Toto drummer Simon Phillips.
There is a reason why we are known for a certain aspect of our music and not others. And in my opinion it lays in the traditional marketing strategies used by record labels. It takes money to create a name and a brand. So you want to strengthen that by re-enforcing it, rather than diluting it by going into too many different directions. Those strategies are proven to work and are still true today.
However, I think that the new independent marketing and self-promotion, that I see many new artists undertake, opens up possibilities for a wider approach. I see a switch from ‘big money marketing’, like buying TV, radio and print ads, to grass roots Internet marketing and social media campaigns.
It’s easy to imagine, how an artists can promote themselves in a variety of musical genres, when their name recognition is no longer tied to a radio station’s sound, but rather to a face book page or twitter account.
I recently saw Annie Lennox doing a jazz gig. I thought it was fantastic. The fans went nuts. I don’t think we are giving our listening audience enough credit, when we assume they only love one sound.
So why not giving it a try and show our fans what else we love to do? Let’s see what sticks. We have to evaluate what works and what doesn’t. That’s what the whole evolution, which is currently taking place in the music industry is all about. Call me idealistic, but I think there is an opportunity for artist, to become bigger than one genre or being pigeonholed into one little aspect of their talents.
To me this makes the future a very exciting time. And I hope to hear a variety of music from artists coming to light.

Nils Christmas deals

nilsmusic — Fri, 05 Dec 2014 08:22:56 +0000

pick any album for $6.99 download or 9.99 hard copy

2013 Jazz Gems – The Best of Nils

15 Billboard Top 20 Hits on one CD

2012 City Groove

feat. Darryl Jones, Simon Phillips, Ricky Lawson, Jeff Golub, Mitch Forman and more…

2011 What the Funk

feat. Alex Al, Ricky Lawson, Reggie McBride and more…

2009 Up Close and Personal

feat. Larry Dunn, Shilts, Clydene Jackson, Oliver Brown and more

2007 Ready to Play

feat. Dwayne ‘Smitty’ Smith, Leon Bisquera, Carmen Twillie, , Terry Lynn Wood and more…

2005 Pacific Coast Highway

feat. song of the Decade “Pacific Coast Highway”

1998 Blue Planet

feat. George Benson, Carl Anderson, Bobby Lyle, Chanté Moore and more