Normal Rockstar

A New Business Model for the Music Industry

If you're in the music industry, take 15 minutes and watch this video presentation on Trent Reznor and how he make $1.6 million in the first week of sales on a record that he was giving away for free. [HT Brody Harper]

Free Song for Valentine's Day

Hey all you lovers out there! AmazonMp3.com is offering a free song this Valentine's Day. Click on the banner above to download Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On" and add some music to your Valentine's Day celebration. This offer ends at 11:59:59 PST on Saturday, Feb. 14th, so move quickly!

"Ending is Beginning" from downhere Releases Tomorrow

The day is nearly here - tomorrow marks the release of Ending is Beginning, the new studio project from my band downhere. I am personally really excited about this project. When we went into the studio in January to start recording in earnest I was really concerned that we didn't have the right songs yet. As an artist you always want to be improving in your craft - we felt like our last studio project Wide-Eyed and Mystified was the absolute best album we had recorded up until that point, and I wasn't sure we had material that would result in a stronger project this time around.

Well, I was wrong, and the Lord showed is faithfulness to us once again. I can confidently say that I feel like this new album is our best album yet. The musical variety, lyrical depth, and overall accessibility of the 13 songs collected on this project are second to none in our repetoire. And we've already seen great response to some of the new songs that we've been playing live as well as to the current radio single called "Here I Am" which is in the Top 10 and climbing.

We would love it if you would take a second this week and either download the album from iTunes or go visit your local Christian bookstore and pick it up. We're excited about what the Lord's got in store for us next - even though not knowing can sometimes be a scary thing.You can listen to some of the songs on our MySpace page if you want to preview the record before you buy it. Hope you enjoy!

First downhere Single "Here I Am" at Radio Today

Consider this a shameless plug for downhere and the new album we've got coming out in September. Today is a big day for us as it's the official "add date" for the first single from Ending is Beginning called "Here I Am". All that means is that this is the day we are asking as many radio stations as possible to start playing the song in hopes that the more times it gets "spun" (i.e. played) the higher it will rise on the radio charts.

You can listen to the song below - the lyrics are also attached. Enjoy... and thank your local radio station for playing the song when you hear it!

HERE I AM

Sometimes your calling, comes in dream
Sometimes in comes in the Spirit's breeze,
You reach for the deepest part of me,
And call out for the things of eternity.

But I'm a man, of dust and stains,
You move in me, so I can say,

CHORUS:
Here I am, Lord send me,
All of my life, I make an offering,
Here I am, Lord send me,
Somehow my story, Is part of your plan,
Here I am

When setbacks and failures, and upset plans,
Test my faith and leave me with empty hands,
Are you not the closest when it's hardest to stand?
I know that you will finish what you began.

These broken parts you redeem,
Become the song, that I can sing
(chorus)

Overwhelmed by the thought of my weakness,
And the fear that I'll fail you in the end,
In this mess, I'm just one of the pieces,
I can't put this together but you can.

Single Parent Event: Ministry in Action

Last night my band played at a single-parent family retreat put on by New Life Media, a network of radio stations in Illinois that includes WIBI-FM 91.1 in Carlinville, WBGL-FM 91.7 in Champaign, WCIC-FM 91.5 in Pekin, and WCFL-FM 104.7 in Morris. It was an interesting evening - the crowd was not our target market (the age range was from 2-15 and then 26-60 - college students were absent) and because one of the lights blew up right at the start of the show we had to do the rest of the set under florescent lights (which REALLY is not an ideal situation when you're trying to put on an entertaining, dramatic event!).

But they could have cared less. For an hour and a half last night, I got to watch a thing of beauty - single parents who generally live their lives stressed to the max having a good time with their kids. The weekend was highly subsidised by the radio network - from what I gathered the registration fee they charged each family barely covered their meals for the weekend. The radio network planned on losing investing over $40,000 in the weekend, giving these parents an opportunity to come out to a fun place and have fun with their families without being stressed about how they were going to pay for everything afterwards. As we signed autographs after the show, each parent and child were genuinely thankful and apreciative of the night. I felt privileged to be a part of something more significant in their lives than just another night of "entertainment".

Way to go, New Life - great job. You are living out the gospel, taking care of the widow and the poor. Thanks for the privilege of serving alongside you last night. Press on!

Normal Rockstar Interview

Hey all - just wanted to direct you to an interview I did recently for a fellow blogger up in Michigan. He asked some great questions - I hope my answers did them justice! Click here to read the interview... Thanks, JVo!

"I'd Rather Have Jesus"... Really?

We sang this old hymn in church Sunday morning and the lyrics really hit home:

I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold,
I'd rather be His than have riches untold;
I'd rather have Jesus than houses or lands,
I'd rather be led by his nail-pierced hand.

I'd rather have Jesus than men's applause
I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause
I'd rather have Jesus than worldwide fame
I'd rather be true to His holy name

Than to be the king of a vast domain
Or be held in sin's dread sway;
I'd rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.

What a classic song by George Beverly Shea... And, even though it was written decades ago, these lyrics still challenge me today, especially in light of my occupation. My prayer today is that I can honestly sing these words - today and for years to come, regardless of what profession/ministry position I may find myself in.

How about you? Can you sing these words and mean them?

Download downhere's "Wide-Eyed and Mystified" For Free!

In anticipation of our September 23rd release "Ending is Beginning", my band - downhere - is giving away our current studio release, "Wide-Eyed and Mystified", as a free download through the month of June. This isn't the first time a band has given away their music for free - but it's definitely the first time WE'VE done it, and it's a little scary to say the least. The goal is to help current fans share our music with their friends to hopefully help promote our upcoming release, and to partner with MusicChristian.com to introduce us to their customer base. Click here to get the download - if you'd rather just have the link to cut and paste into an email to your friends, here it is: http://www.musichristian.com/downhere/download.

Thanks for your help getting the word out! We are looking forward to sharing this next record with everyone!

Back from my Blogging Hiatus

It has been a VERY long time since I last posted - an eternity as far as the blogosphere is concerned. I'm actually rather afraid to look at my stats - I don't think I'm going to check until AFTER I've posted this just to get the ball rolling. I've been finding it pretty intimidating to post something after having been absent for some long - but I'm waiting for new tires to be put on my car and I'm caught up on everything else (even responding to band MySpace messages!) so I sort of ran out of excuses.

I still feel like I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things here at home. I've basically been away from home for the last 6 weeks on a tour for which I was wearing two hats: rockstar (40 minutes playing, 30 minutes signing autographs/day), and road manager (the remaining 22 hours and 50 minutes/day). Needless to say, it was all I could do to stay on top of the tour and get enough sleep to survive - blogging quickly became a luxury and fell to the wayside.

It was a great tour, though, and thankfully my wife was able to travel with me (she was the merchandise manager for the tour which meant she was swallowed up by CDs and t-shirts every day). Over the course of the 13,000 miles we traveled, we enjoyed a number of highlights and reconnected with various friends and family around the country. I discovered that one of my college buddies is now a motorcycle cop for the California Highway Patrol, so he gave us a "tour" of his bike while we were out there. I think I could get into riding a motorcycle if I ever end up with enough disposable income to buy one (and enough time at home to take the driving course!).

That's about it for now - I'm hoping my car is going to be done soon and I don't want to make this a lengthy post about the past... let's talk about the future, baby! Just thought I'd let you know I'm back - and Twittering away as usual. Come back, dear readers, and let's continue this conversation!

Back on the Road with Shawn McDonald

It's time to get back on the road. My band has spent the last couple of months in the studio working on our next studio release which is sounding KILLER (I'm a little biased, but I think you'll like it). So it's been nice to be home and do regular 'home" things... however, the coffers are empty and it's time to get back out on the road and sell some t-shirts!

And we're hitting it pretty hard... In the next 37 days we've got 27 shows (and 4 of those "off" days are GMA Week) from Florida to Washington State, Montana to California, and many stops in between. We're supporting an artist named Shawn McDonald and will be joined by a good friend of ours, Jason Gray. Along with drumming, I will be road managing the tour, so it's going to be a busy next few weeks for me. I will do my best to blog consistently, but if I disappear for a few days, you know what the deal is - it's called self preservation! I'd love it if you came by one of the shows and said hi though... Or just sign up to follow me on Twitter and keep tabs of me that way. Thanks - time to get back to work!

downhere, music, shawn mdonald, Twitter