Music to your ears!

How bloody hard is it to make it as a musician in this country. Yes, there are a select few that make it onto high profile TV talent shows and get a lucky break, but for most musos it’s a constant struggle. A struggle to get gigs, a struggle to get signed and a struggle to make a decent, reliable living. Yet the passion for making music remains.

Did you know that Janis Joplin started out as a busker? Edith Piaf was ‘discovered’ as a teenage singing in the alley outside a nightclub. And the Violent Femmes were found also ‘discovered’ by a member of The Pretenders while busking in 1981. Of course, Justin Bieber famously got his break after his YouTube performance went viral (some might say, unfortunately!).

I personally loved the recent story about Cherry bar in Melbourne. Lady Gaga unexpectedly turned up and offered to play. The manager turned her down because he didn’t want to disappoint the booked band, Jackson Firebird, a blues-rock bank from Mildura. That generated a heap of publicity for Jackson Firebird who will forever be known as ‘the band who upstaged Gaga’.

All musicians have to start somewhere. We’ve been busy updating our Music media lists. There’s a great list of ‘Music Reviewers’ and a fabulous ‘Music Live Guides’. We’ve purposely kept the prices down on these lists because we like to support the arts. Given that most musicians we know are very talented but terrible at promoting themselves we’re hoping these lists will help. If you know a muso that could do with a bit of promotion or exposure please forward this email to them.

ANSWERS TO OUR TRIVIA QUESTIONS:

1.There are reportedly eleven albums that have sold more than 40 million copies. How many can you name?

·Michael Jackson, Thriller

·Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon

·AC/DC, Back in Black

·Whitney Houston, The Bodyguard

·Michael Jackson, Bad

·Meat Loaf, Bat Out of Hell

·Eagles, Greatest Hits (1971 – 1975)

·Dirty Dancing

·Bee Gees, Saturday Night Fever

·Fleetwood Mac, Rumours

·Shania Twain, Come On Over

2.What do Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Brian Jones have in common?

They all died at age 27.