Jody Whitesides

Tag: behind the scenes of music production

  • When Social Media Turns Toxic: A Musician’s Guide to Mute, Focus, and Finish the Track

    When Social Media Turns Toxic: A Musician’s Guide to Mute, Focus, and Finish the Track

    You can’t control crazy!

    About an hour ago as I write this, a post I made on social media picked up a few responses from a few people. Then came a crazy response that caused me to think, hey, this might make a humorous response. Off went my reply into the social media ether. Or so I thought.

    A Barrage

    I didn’t expect to suddenly be inundated with a slew of posts where each one made less sense than the one before it. Some insulting. Initially I thought it prudent to explain the humor. Then it went even further south. Its like I tapped into crazy. Or rather some person’s crazy that I eventually had to think to myself. Stop responding.

    More insults

    I ended up wondering exactly what set this guy off. So I make a small trip into his profile. I find someone who fancies themselves a lyricist. One who has publicly promoted a known company that takes hopeful musicians/lyricists money to make demos and offer a publishing deal that is about as good as a rubber quarter for spending. Who knows, maybe this guy is the next country version of Bob Dylan, I’m not willing to find out.

    Mute

    After that trip down the rabbit hole, I continued to get posted – despite my silence. I hit the mute button as I had to remove myself from the situation. It was making my brain hurt.

    The Past

    It seemed quite similar to an exchange I had with a stalker a few years back. Yes, I’ve had a male stalker. You try to be nice and the person continues to be less than considerate, that’s when you have to put the real distance between yourself and their crazy.

    In happier news, I’ve been finishing a bunch of tunes destined for TV. Pardon me while I put focus back into the music.

  • Inside the Studio: How a Simple Change Made This Song More Memorable

    Inside the Studio: How a Simple Change Made This Song More Memorable

    making a hit song

    What goes into the making of a hit song? This is a curious question. If there was one true answer, everyone would be doing it, and nothing would actually end up being a hit. Right? Conspiracy theorists like to believe that the major labels have some sort of computer algorithm that can predict if a song is a hit or not. As the British say: Bullocks. They don’t know any better than any one else, the different is, they’re in a position of power to sell something.

    While recording Till We Meet Again, George, Jesse, and I get into a quick discussion about things that can help make a song a hit song. In this case, we’re talking about a little trick that Jesse and I did with a particular transition of a song from one part to another. We changed something about the song structure in such a way that it makes people take notice. Watch the video about making a hit song and find out what we did.

    Making A Hit Song

    YouTube player

    Did you catch what we were talking about? Think you can go write a hit song now?

  • Soundtrack to the Court: 90+ Basketball Teams, One Indie Songwriter

    Writing, recording, writing, recording. It’s an ever going process. A stockpiling of songs I tell you. Recently in case you weren’t aware, I befriended the main peep at Fox Sports Music. Well that led to getting hooked up with the main marketing peep over at the NBA. Which then led to new versions of the song Do You Want To Play. I was asked to do a version for the WNBA and the D-League. Mind you I’m a small basketball fan, but I had never heard of the D-League.

    I decided that since the song was being pulled out and done for two new versions, why not go ahead and do a version for every team in each league. The label was cool with it, so I spent the extra time knocking out versions for every single team. Yikes! It was a hefty undertaking to get it done in the short time that was request. Aside from one little snafu on the CD of the WNBA versions it all went pretty smoothly. As of now, you’ll find all three as new releases up on iTunes. Do You Want To Play – NBA Mixes, Do You Want To Play – WNBA Mixes and Do You Want To Play – D-League Mixes.

    If you’re a fan of a particular basketball team, chances are there is a version of the song specifically for you! That’s right all three of these collections are now available on iTunes as songs and as ringtones for your iPhone. Actually all of my songs are now available as ringtones for iPhones on iTunes. You should very well hear this song played at live basketball games starting this season! ** Interestingly the D-League versions are already selling out of Norway. Who knew they liked minor league basketball so much?

    Next year I’ll tackle major league baseball, all of the NHL, all of the NFL and major league soccer.

    The touring deal is thru the next step, sitting on pins and needles awaiting word of what’s coming for the next step. I hope to have news on it within days if not a week. Keep up a good thought for me.

    In the meantime, spread the basketball love on iTunes!

    Stay Tuned.

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