Bobby Owsinski's Inner Circle Podcast

My guest on the podcast this week is Vinny Ribas, who’s the founder and CEO of both Indie Direct and Cartne. Vinny has worked as both an agent and an artist manager, but is also an executive coach and strategic business consultant. He’s also branched out online in creating Indie Connect and his latest venture Cartne. Cartne takes the mystery and guesswork out of being an indie artist by providing the answers to over 250 of the most pressing questions and challenges that artists have. It also exposes over 60 of the scams and rip-offs that plague the industry, and also details hundreds of careers in the industry that go way beyond just artist, musician, engineer and producer. During the interview we talked about the different kinds of agents available, working with the parents of young artists, some current music scams, and much more. I spoke with Vinny via Zoom from his office in Nashville. On the intro I’ll take a look at the truth behind artists and social media, and the difference between a one hit wonder and a consistent hitmaker. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83092920, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Elisa Di Napoli, who’s a holistic life coach, hypnotherapist, author and performer. Elisa specializes in helping professionals and artists overcome creative blocks and beat stage fright so they can better share their gifts with their audience. She’s been a holistic clinical hypnotherapist as well as Neuro-Linguistic Programming practitioner for two decades, where her approach combines Positive Psychology, Eastern Philosophy, Esoteric Western Practices with Hypnosis (when needed) and Transformational Creative Coaching to provide a Holistic path to better living. Elisa is also a singer-songwriter and multi instrumentalist performing under the name Elyssa Vulpes, and she is the best-selling author of “Dare to Be Seen.” During the interview we talked about the reasons people get performance anxiety, performance anxiety over social media, the different symptoms that can arise, ways to overcome it, and much more. I spoke with Elisa via Zoom from her studio in New Zealand. On the intro I’ll take a look at the number of professional artists are on Spotify, and vinyl record pressing plants finally upping capacity. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83068192, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Ron Jones, who’s had a long career writing for some of the biggest hit television shows of our time. Ron has worked a variety of popular prime-time shows like The A-Team, Magnum P.I., Hardcastle and McCormick, Hunter, and Star Trek Next Generation, but he may be better known for his work on animated shows. These include The Smurfs, Scooby-Doo, Disney’s Duck Tales, Fairly Odd Parents, and the ever popular Family Guy and American Dad. During the interview we talked about why working on animation can be liberating for a composer, why the days before MIDI was actually easier for composers, his battle with categorizing his music on CD Baby, and much more. As you’ll hear, Ron’s a really funny guy with a wealth of knowledge, so we’ll probably come back for a Part 2 to the conversation soon. I spoke with Ron via Zoom from his studio in Washington State. On the intro I’ll take a look at the decline of fandom, and are we on the cusp of a new trend in recording? var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 83035458, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is journalist Larry Jaffee, who’s going to take us behind the scenes of the biggest vinyl selling day of the year, Record Store Day. Larry has been editor in chief of several magazines and websites covering the media and marketing businesses, including Medialine, which specialized in physical music product. His writing has been published in The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Adweek, and numerous other publications. He also currently teaches media studies at St. Joseph’s College and New York Institute of Technology, and has been the program director for the Making Vinyl and Replitech conferences, among others. Larry’s latest book Record Store Day: The Most Improbable Comeback of the 21st Century is the inside story on how independent record store owners and musicians managed to revive the vinyl format from oblivion. It’s being published by Rare Bird Books to coincide with Record Store Day’s 15th Anniversary. During the interview we talked about how Record Store Day started, how the resurgence of vinyl caught the music industry by surprise, how custom releases pushed sales, and much more. I spoke with Larry via Zoom from his home in New York City. On the intro I’ll take a look at how women are missing from popular music creation, and at digital drugs delivered by sound. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 82997424, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Gary Lux, who is one of Hollywood’s premier music mixers with literally thousands of projects to his credit. Before stepping out on his own, Gary was the head music mixer for Universal Studios, where he earned two Emmy Award nominations for his work with The Jacksons, and Frank Sinatra. He has a wide range of music mixing credits including Usher, Sting, Rob Thomas, Britney Spears, Norah Jones, No Doubt, and many more. Gary was also one of the first to delve into 5.1 surround mixing, and has now mixed hundreds of titles in Dolby Atmos. During the interview we spoke about dealing with stereo stems in immersive mixing, mixing for the headphone experience, mixing Van Halen in Atmos, his approach to mastering immersive material, and much more. I spoke with Gary and his studio partner Dominic via Zoom from his studio near Los Angeles. On the intro I’ll take a look at how the promise of NFTs and web3 might not be what artists want, and how the latest revolution in the musical instrument business is not what you think. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 82966965, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

She Rocks Awards - 01212016 My guest this week is Laura Whitmore, who started her career in the direct marketing department of CBS Records before a 20 year stint as the marketing director for Korg USA. There she was instrumental in marketing, PR and artist relations for the Korg, Marshall, and VOX brands as well as editor of Korg’s ProView Magazine. Laura then started her own PR and marketing company called Mad Sun Marketing, with clients like Acoustic Amplification, Peavy, Sterling Audio, SIR, Korg, and many more, before signing on as VP of marketing for Positive Grid. In 2012 she founded the Women’s International Music Network™ to create a hub to connect women in all facets of the music industry, and to expose them to role models, events and educational opportunities that focus on women in music. During the interview we spoke about the difficulties of doing PR in today’s social media world, the idea behind the Women’s International Music Network, musicians as entrepreneurs, and much more. I spoke with Laura via Zoom from her home office. On the intro I’ll take a look at how the RIAA’s latest stellar revenue numbers are deceiving, and, are we looking at the end of the guitar effects pedal? var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 82942853, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Hayden Maringer, who has performed countless shows and tours all over the world working with artists such as Jennifer Lopez, Demi Lovato, The Band Perry, Carrie Underwood, and many more. Hayden established himself as a music director and guitarist, but also as an actor, working as the lead guitar player on the Fox hit TV show Glee. He has also worked as a composer, with credits such as “The Scorpion King: Quest For Power,” commercials for Ford, and shows on NBC and BBC. During the interview we spoke about his audition with Lady Gaga, the importance of reading music, a pressure-packed session with Jennifer Lopez, learning how to become a tour music director, and much more. I spoke with Hayden from his studio in Hollywood. On the intro I’ll take a look at TikTok becoming a music distributor, as well as the upcoming vacuum tube shortage. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 82907776, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Michael Walker, who went from being a living-out-of-his-car touring musician to reaching #2 on the iTunes Alternative Charts in 6 months by using some simple grass-roots marketing techniques. After touring professionally for eight years, Michael decided to set up Modern Musician to teach other artists and bands the skills that he learned to have a profitable music career. Michael now takes clients through a 3 tier system of discovering an artist’s identity, developing a passionate fan base, and then multiplying their revenue. During the interview we spoke about how tour hacking started, how artists can better target their audience, how older artists can have an outlet for their music, and much more. I spoke with Michael via Zoom from his studio in Florida. On the intro I’ll take a look at the real culprit behind low songwriter royalties on Spotify, and if people can really tell the sonic difference between CD and vinyl. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 82868683, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Daniel Rowland, who’s an audio engineer, producer, educator, Head of Strategy and Partnerships at Montreal’s LANDR Audio, and longtime professor at MTSU in Nashville. Daniel has been part of numerous international tours; produced the music for an Oscar-winning Pixar film; and mastered multiplatinum/Grammy-nominated albums, while working on projects for artists as varied as Nine Inch Nails, Seal, Meek Mill, Phillip Glass, and Gwen Stefani, along with dozens of Disney properties such as Star Wars and Marvel. Daniel has worked with online mastering service LANDR to refine its AI mastering engine and develop numerous virtual instruments, plugins, and other products, while crafting acquisition and partnerships deals with a wide range of startups and iconic brands/artists. During the interview we spoke about distance audio learning, the unexpected uses for LANDR, his take on the newest music tech, and much more. I spoke with Daniel from his studio in Los Angeles. On the intro I’ll take a look at the copyright office rejecting a claim for AI art, and the real world reasons for using a high recording resolution. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 82833568, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };

My guest this week is Steve Genewick, who’s worked at Capitol Studios in Hollywood for 25 years. Steve was one of the very first mixers to get into Atmos music mixing and now has more experience than just about anyone. Among the artists that Steve has mixed in Atmos includes Aerosmith, Miles Davis, Bon Jovi, Carrie Underwood, REM, Maroon 5 and many more. During the interview we spoke about setting up a home Atmos studio, getting thrown into the Atmos learning curve, how he uses objects and beds, the tools he regularly uses, his custom reverb setup, and much more. I spoke with Steve from his home studio in Hollywood. You can find out more about him either here or on Episode 276. On the intro I’ll take a look at the people who don’t like crypto and NFTs and why, and the $200 Kanye Stem Music Player. var podscribeEmbedVars = { epId: 82797749, backgroundColor: 'white', font: undefined, fontColor: undefined, speakerFontColor: undefined, height: '600px', showEditButton: false, showSpeakers: true, showTimestamps: true };