My Musical Friends 

  • Garrison Starr Record is OUT!
  • Justin Hulsey Starts his PledgeMusic Campaign
  • Get Free Music From Allie Moss on Noisetrade
  • Jake Newton show 5/17/12 at Hotel Cafe

Hey Friends!

Today is a phenomenal day to be a fan of good music. Why you ask? because there’s literally a cavalcade of great work being put out today.

Garrison Starr AmateurGARRISON STARR RECORD RELEASED-Over the past couple of years I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know an artist by the name of Garrison Starr. She’s an incredible writer, inventive guitar player and a laugh a minute riot to be around. During the recording of her most recent record she invited me (amongst a slew of musicians) to sing on her record, out today, entitled “Amateur”, get it here on iTunes. and be sure to check out some behind the scenes from the making of the record Here on Youtube. Currently she’s on tour so you should check to see if she’s playing near your city by going to www.GarrisonStarr.com. Tell her I sent you and she’ll give you a virtual High Five.

Justin Hulsey JUSTIN HULSEY PLEDGE CAMPAIGN-For those of you who’ve followed me for a while you know that I did a pledge music campaign over the last year to fund my latest record “Kill the Past”. It was a wonderful experience, opening up my eyes to the level of Support I have across the world for my music. I have a warm place in my heart for the people over at Pledge Music and am so excited my friend Justin Hulsey has launched his project this week. I met Justin while he was out in Los Angeles recording his last record, you need to know his music. He’s an incredible talent with an ear for the wounded bird and a heart for the pulse of our disparate 21st century culture. Do yourself a huge favor by going over to his Pledge music page and checking out his project, he’s got a heap of great incentives to tease you with. Getting involved with his music will make you a better person. Simply said. check out his Pledge Music Page Here


ALLIE MOSS ON NOISETRADE-If you like great music and you are broke (there are many of us, it’s going to be OK) then by all means you need to go to Noisetrade.com and pick up my friend Allie Moss’s record “late Bloomer” which will be on repeat for weeks. Best of all it costs you zero much dollars. How on earth can you pass that up? Get the record here for FREE

Jake Newton at Hotel CafeNEXT SHOW AT THE HOTEL CAFE 5/17/12-For those of you in the southern Californian zone, I will be playing again at Hotel Cafe in Hollywood after the ever talented Peter Bradley Adams on May 17th at 10PM. Tickets are available online by going to www.hotelcafe.com or by clicking this link here. I’ve taken a bit of a break from live shows to write and will be showcasing quite a few new songs for you to judge, pick apart, obsess over, and beg me to release recordings of. Please afford me the great pleasure of your company and I will do my utmost to rock your socks off in a pleasant “white boy problems” kind of way. Join the FB event Here


Famous misquotes 

“I’ve got 99 problems but indigestion ain’t one”

-mahatma Ghandi-

“What’s the deal with airline food?”

-Benjamin Franklin-

“Does this Hole in my head make my hat look big?”

-Abraham Lincoln-

“Yeah, but I was thinking more of an indie thing…”

-Steven Speilberg-

New Record Rating System 

So a few months back I was talking with a few friends in front of a Music club in Los Angeles, we were discussing dwindling record sales and the days when records were constantly going Gold, Platinum, Multi-Platinum etc. Those were very different times.

Not that today is worse, it’s just different. The landscape has shifted so much that it’s becoming unrecognizable to the old model. I’m not gonna sit and grouse about how we should return to hunting for your new favorite album somewhere in the belly of a Tower Records on the corner of Main Street and Delusional Way. In Fact, I’m going to propose that the standards by which records are held to in regards to appreciation for Album sales needs to expand. The old sales charts were based on a world were record deals were a plenty, and if you wanted to own a “pirated” copy of something you had to settle for the crappy low fidelity of second-hand cassette city. I think people are listening to just as much music, but the ease at which people can pirate music, coupled with the diversity of the market (everyone can make a record with a laptop) dissipates what used to be an overwhelming choke hold “pop” music had on the general masses.

All this to say that we need a system that congratulates this 21st century phenomenon of “middle class musician”. Ready? Here we go…..

Currently the Recording Industry Association of America (or RIAA) has standards as follows

Gold Records on some dude's wall

  • Silver: 100,000 copies- your video is on MTV
  • Gold: 500,000 copies- You’ve won a grammy
  • Platinum: 1,000,000 copies- you’ve won a grammy and you have back up dancers, start crossing over into Film Roles
  • Multi-Platinum: 2,000,000 copies-your backup dancers have backup dancers, Start talking in interviews about your “legacy”.
  • Diamond: 10,000,000 copies- your name rhymes with SMichael SMackson

Let’s not Change these!!!! It’s tradition! let’s merely add to them with my new adjusted system:

  • Bronze: 75,000 copies- Start referring to yourself in the third person
  • Pewter: 50,000 copies- you begin to make lavish purchases
  • Aluminum: 25,000 copies-The People at Pitchfork.com love you, but they’ll hate you if you go Bronze
  • Wood: 10,000 copies- your parents friends don’t believe you make money as a musician and currently hold the theory that you’re a drug dealer
  • Cotton: 5,000-you still freelance as a graphic designer
  • Paper: 1,000-people at your thankless job ask how your band is doing (you can’t wait to quit)
  • Wax: 500- dude, just making a record is hard enough. Good for you.
  • Lint- 50- you need to get out more

So there it is. Finally a system worthy of todays recording industry. This is multi-paper recording artist Jake newton signing off,

J