|
Post by dee on May 18, 2010 22:02:41 GMT -5
Is Westerberg against having a Myspace page,Twitter account, Facebook page, or Youtube channel?You would think any type of management would have all these in place for both Paul and The Replacements.Reguardless of his personal computer use,it is a way to reach millions of people and it's very simple to do.It would be nice to have them all linked to this page.
|
|
|
Post by wecantgetanybetter on May 18, 2010 23:38:27 GMT -5
I been thinking he needs a Twitter feed. 'Course anyone could do it for him: "PaulWesterbot," spitting out random lyrics? Done.
|
|
|
Post by FreeRider on May 19, 2010 9:31:08 GMT -5
i'm kind of resigned to the notion that Paul no longer really cares about promoting himself much. i suspect he's content to do things on his own terms. perhaps the fans care more about him being recognized or reaching a broader audience than he does.
maybe Darren has suggested things to Paul and Paul decided to pass on it. I would love to see him do an instructional guitar video for Homespuntapes.com, or even come out with a songbook, filled with tabs and tunings and chords. Or sell exclusive demos and songs from his own site. I believe not too long ago, Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses had something set up where you pay a small monthly fee of like $5 and you'd get 3 or 4 rough demos of hers or something each month.
I'm suspecting Paul is comfortable doing what he's doing.
|
|
|
Post by brianlux on May 19, 2010 9:56:00 GMT -5
i'm kind of resigned to the notion that Paul no longer really cares about promoting himself much. i suspect he's content to do things on his own terms. perhaps the fans care more about him being recognized or reaching a broader audience than he does. maybe Darren has suggested things to Paul and Paul decided to pass on it. I would love to see him do an instructional guitar video for Homespuntapes.com, or even come out with a songbook, filled with tabs and tunings and chords. Or sell exclusive demos and songs from his own site. I believe not too long ago, Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses had something set up where you pay a small monthly fee of like $5 and you'd get 3 or 4 rough demos of hers or something each month. I'm suspecting Paul is comfortable doing what he's doing. Quite likely an accurate summation, FreeRider. Paul seems to have no interest in reaching people via computer. Maybe he's just an old fashioned kind of guy. I do have to agree it would be nice to see a few song books, learn a few of his tricks though I'm guessing that's not likely to happen either.
|
|
|
Post by FreeRider on May 19, 2010 13:45:49 GMT -5
brianlux,
I am with you on this---I wanna see some song books. I don't know if Paul feels a little possessive about the tunings he has come up with or secretly revels in the fans not knowing how to play his songs. But I have a different take on this. I'd much rather have the song books so we can play these great songs. And if that does happen, don't you think that his songs will travel much further than our own little circle of loyal fans?
Imagine his songs being played by some folkers at some open mic nite or some acoustic nite at the local coffee house. Don't you think his songs are going to cause people to perk up and say, "hey, what song was that?" Adn what better way to promote Paul than to tell them who wrote the song.
People already hear the tired old pop song effluvia being played by someone in a coffee house. But they haven't heard Paul's songs. I know I'm biased, but Paul's songs will rank right up there with anyone's. Paul probably no longer cares, but I think it's a good way to keep his songs alive and his name out there among the ignorant. right off the top of my head, I''m thinking how cool it would be to hear a song list at some acoustic open mic nite of:
Skyway If Only You Were Lonely Dangerous Boys, etc...
|
|
|
Post by TomT on May 19, 2010 19:31:34 GMT -5
I'm suspecting Paul is comfortable doing what he's doing. He's starting to remind me of John Lennon from '75 to 1980. Wonder if Paul makes bread as good as Lennon did.. Maybe he's just watchin' the wheels go round.
|
|
|
Post by dee on May 19, 2010 22:50:50 GMT -5
It just seems that he doesn't like it when his albums fail.So much so now that it appears the album format isn't very appealing to him.Which totally sucks for fans.It seems every time he releases an album he needs to be re-introduced to the public as being this legendary songwriter.Maybe if that info was readily available for people to find out about on their own instead of having it pushed on them when he's promoting something he'd get a better response.Also I'm sure people who hear about him via an album promotion would turn to Myspace,etc. to check him out on their own and verify if he's something they're into.It's not like the old days where people read a good review and are swayed to buy an album,now the record buying public wants to do their own sleuthing to find out if they like the artist before they part with their money.I'm sure it kind of deflates any type of promotion or hype when someone realizes this Paul Westerberg guy doesn't even have a Myspace account(One that is connected to itunes).Some people might not know how to buy an album any other way.All it is is like having a press release available to the public and it gives people easy options to purchase.It would be cool if he'd stream an album prior to it's release as well. I'll know when he releases something because it's something I keep an eye out for,but it would be nice if a release could be anticipated by being promoted with official updates and teasers up until the release.The Come Feel Me Tremble movie was great.There should be clips of that readily available on an official site somewhere.An artist page like this one is where the hardcore fans go,but casual fans go to the sites that they themselves are apart of.I'm reminded of the "Label wants a hit and we don't give a shit" line.An artist can do so much more by doing so much less now days.You would think that would appeal to Paul.
|
|
|
Post by FreeRider on May 20, 2010 9:39:32 GMT -5
dee,
interesting point about him always being re-introduced to the public as a legendary frontman for the Mats and legendary songwriter.
And yeah, about the CFMT movie, I was thinking about this not too long ago after seeing the Pixies documentary on IFC. "Loud Quiet Loud", which was okay, but nothing like Paul's documentary. My first reaction was, why the hell isn't Paulie on IFC? Why the hell isn't CFMT being shown somewhere? I have to think either he really doesn't care and is content to just do stuff for his loyal fan base or that Darren and whoever else is managing Paul aren't thinking about these things.
And maybe TomT is dead on with his comparison to Lennon. Paul's content to be a stay-at-home dad, noodling around in his basement.
|
|
|
Post by hudson99 on May 20, 2010 11:26:16 GMT -5
You guys are all assuming that Paul makes the decisions regarding sheet music, TV play, etc. For all we know, he'd love for these opportunities to occur but you have to find the outlets willing to make the investment to make it happen.
|
|
|
Post by FreeRider on May 20, 2010 15:35:16 GMT -5
Point well taken. That certainly is a possibility.
But he seems to have enough cache among those in the know to get into some song book deals. He did sign with Bug Music, so that should be the company's strength. From their own website:
"With more than thirty years of careful growth, Bug Music has become a world-leader in the music publishing industry. Established in 1975, Bug Music combines highly personalized service with the most advanced technology in order to maximize copyright protection and collection efforts for its clients. In addition Bug employs an international team of creative personnel to provide exposure for some of the best popular music ever written."
So if Paul and Darren Hill decided to do a song book for, let's say, Folker, Bug Music couldn't help Paul get a song book into print and sell it on Amazon? They couldn't strike a deal with the production company, which is Harder/Fuller Films according to imdb.com, and the Indie Film Channel or some other film channel to air "Come Feel Me Tremble?"
Well.... maybe....I don't know what the competition is like for indie film makers to get their stuff aired on IFC.
|
|
|
Post by hudson99 on May 20, 2010 16:50:23 GMT -5
I actually know somebody involved at IFC. I'll send her an email to see how they line up their music docs, and if CMFT has ever been offered to them.
|
|
|
Post by dee on May 20, 2010 22:29:03 GMT -5
CFMT just seems like a perfect fit for IFC.Why wasn't Paul ever on the Henry Rollins show?That would have been "must see" tv.
|
|
|
Post by FreeRider on May 21, 2010 9:31:58 GMT -5
hudson99, very cool. I'd be curious to know how IFC does their programming and what's involved.
you know, this thought occured to me. Maybe Paul really IS comfortable with the amount of exposure and recognition he has now. Maybe he feels that anymore recognition will bring about more business pressure for public appearances and promotion and it bumps him out of his comfort zone. Again, maybe we care more about him being recognized and appreciated than he does.
|
|
rockb4
Dances With Posts
Posts: 47
|
Post by rockb4 on May 21, 2010 13:13:27 GMT -5
Odd there is a Bob Stinson facebook page. But sadly it appears that statictaxi.com has not been renewed
|
|
|
Post by hudson99 on May 21, 2010 17:04:06 GMT -5
Ok, the questions have been sent, and I'll forward the answers as soon as I get them.
As to the lack of songbook, though, I wouldn't put too much into the fact that there isn't one (if that's the case). There's not a lot of money in them these days, especially since tabs for almost anything are pretty easy to find online. Songbooks were big bucks in the early-to-middle of the last century, but with the rise of recorded music, television, and film the real money in publishing is in the placement of songs. While a songbook could bring in a few thousand bucks, one properly placed song in a movie can result in a six figure check. A cover of Nick Lowe's "Cruel to Be Kind" that was on The Bodyguard soundtrack brought him over a million bucks, infinitely more than Lowe made in his entire career. While it's unlikely that any soundtrack will ever sell those kind of numbers again, there are more opportunities than ever for one of his songs to pop up in a movie or TV show.
|
|
|
Post by ClamsCasino on May 22, 2010 0:45:26 GMT -5
Or sell exclusive demos and songs from his own site.. That's basically what he's been doing for the past few years. Except he doesn't have a website, so they go up on Amazon instead.
|
|
|
Post by brianlux on May 22, 2010 0:58:46 GMT -5
If Paul does get a song book put out, I hope it's done right. So many of the song books I see are really watered down versions of songs and often contain very inaccurate renditions. And some of the stuff you find on line-- big sigh. I've learned to play a whole slew of Westerberg songs but they're really mostly just simplified versions with chords based on the melody. I would never brag about that (though I do enjoy playing them and yes, you-know-who, I'll get up the nerve to do open mike one of these days) and I would certainly never publish these version were I in a position to do so- but that is what so many of these song books/on-line versions seem like to me.
FreeRider- I totally agree with your idea of getting those songs out there on open mike for people to hear (and that whole discussion about how the public at large is missing out on one of our best song writers which is so true!) What do you think- fake it with basic versions or hold out for the chance that Paul will clue us in on the real deal?
|
|
|
Post by Kathy on May 22, 2010 8:11:33 GMT -5
My two cents: Does the Paul we know from interviews seem like the kind of person who doesn't do exactly what he wants (to his own detriment at times)? The Paul I know from interviews seems like the kind of guy who does -- or at least tries to do -- exactly what he wants.
So what I think is, if Paul wanted a higher public profile, he would have one. If he wanted more visibility and promotion, he would have it. If he wanted to release more music, he would do it. If he wanted a glossy, hi-tech (this site is neither) online presence, he would have it. If he wanted a huge official FB site, he would have one. And if he he wanted these things and the people who worked for him weren't providing them, he would get new people.
That's my take on it. I could be wrong but I think there are plenty of opportunities out there for Paul to have a much higher public profile and it's just not something he's interested in at the moment.
As frustrating as it is for those of us who are fans of the music and want him to be more prolific and put out new music on a regular basis and maybe even TOUR, by all accounts we have access to, it seems like Paul is living a pretty happy life right now. It basically sucks for fans that we don't get new music but maybe the life Paul is living now, one that doesn't include releasing much music and definitely does not include touring or having a public profile is the life that makes him and his family happy.
|
|
|
Post by brianlux on May 22, 2010 10:36:32 GMT -5
My two cents: Does the Paul we know from interviews seem like the kind of person who doesn't do exactly what he wants (to his own detriment at times)? The Paul I know from interviews seems like the kind of guy who does -- or at least tries to do -- exactly what he wants. So what I think is, if Paul wanted a higher public profile, he would have one. If he wanted more visibility and promotion, he would have it. If he wanted to release more music, he would do it. If he wanted a glossy, hi-tech (this site is neither) online presence, he would have it. If he wanted a huge official FB site, he would have one. And if he he wanted these things and the people who worked for him weren't providing them, he would get new people. That's my take on it. I could be wrong but I think there are plenty of opportunities out there for Paul to have a much higher public profile and it's just not something he's interested in at the moment. As frustrating as it is for those of us who are fans of the music and want him to be more prolific and put out new music on a regular basis and maybe even TOUR, by all accounts we have access to, it seems like Paul is living a pretty happy life right now. It basically sucks for fans that we don't get new music but maybe the life Paul is living now, one that doesn't include releasing much music and definitely does not include touring or having a public profile is the life that makes him and his family happy. That about says it all and, yes, we should all wish him well and stop grumbling . Of course we'll hope for a tour but shouldn't expect one. As far as releasing music goes, I actually think he has done well in putting stuff out fairly regularly. I'd say he's been pretty prolific.
|
|
|
Post by Man Who Never Learned to Fly on May 22, 2010 16:20:48 GMT -5
He did take a stab at releasing music through a visible and mainstream (and potentially profile-raising) avenue: the Open Season soundtrack. I mean, look at what the Shrek soundtrack did for that one hey-now-you're-an-all-star band ("GoldenRod?").
From the interviews, it doesn't sound like Paul was really happy with that process (though I do like a lot of the songs on the Open Season soundtrack). And since then, he's been firmly in the basement and pretty much internet-only.
It does seem like he's doing what he wants to be doing the way he wants to do it. That's about all anyone can ask for.
|
|