The Quest

Well, we finally got someone to review the CD that actually listened to it, instead of just copying stuff off the web page, Here you go:

Hundreds of musicians ask MyTexasMusic.com for advice each year. Often, they ask us about cover art. We usually tell them the cover art must answer the question, “what kind of music is this?” That’s often very good advice. In the case of Movin Target, our advice was not sought, and yet, the band got the message from somewhere. What kind of music is this? Well, it’s UNPEGGED. The cover art says it all, making it clear that you won’t be able to ‘peg’ this musical genre. Only a few bands have been able to pull this off. I’ll suggest a few on this artist’s MyTexasMusic.com page, but for now, just know that crossing genre lines in this manner is rarely done this well. Sure, a lot of artists will release an album that has a song each from country, blues, rock, Americana, and folk, but still the songs will probably all sound similar. Not so in this disc. Movin Target’s musical style is as their moniker suggests, but every song is comfortable and remains tasteful to the listener regardless of their genre preference. One of the secrets is that there are four different lead singers in the band, each bringing a unique style and range to the project. Additionally, while Jim Wyly is the primary writer, all the band members have a hand in the writing, making diversity inevitable. But hold on, because Movin Target has accomplished one other feat. They’ve developed a feel and an instrumentation style that links each one of these diverse tracks by way of a distinct, discernible sound. Once you learn what Movin Target sounds like, chances are you’ll be able to recognize them the next time you hear them. This is one of the top attributes required for extended success in this industry. The band has found a formula that just might work for them for a long, long time. The songs are influenced by rock, country, bluegrass, pop, and folk, but not a single song from the album could easily be defined be these constraints. The band’s performances are solid, and while the production is lacking any big label slickness, there are a few technical gems on the disc. The band went for a listenable project, choc full of the energy and passion they exude on stage. With Mike Morgan and Mike Sandberg’s help, they ‘pegged’ it, if you will. I would more likely say that with respect to a project that is going to sell a lot of discs, they stepped to the plate and hit a home run. If you have a favorite sound, you’ll hear it somewhere on this album. I almost thought I heard Kevin Cronin singing on track nine and there was a hint of Tony Scalzo on track ten. Highly entertaining, this is a great first offering from this Central Texas septet. Wyly, Morgan, and Sandberg share producer credits on the disc and do a great job of capturing the true spirit of this… well…Movin Target.

I added the Band to Soundclick the other day. Another music community site where you can get your music heard for Independent Musicians. And lo and behold with a little promotion to catch some attention, the song “On My Own” reached the top of the charts in Folk Rock. A milestone for us to say the least. It’s not the “Cat’s Meow”, but certainly a feather in the cap.
Yet another experiment that is working for us. SoundClick Site.
It won’t stay there without more attention, but still, it’s an experiment worth pursuing.

Well this web site is certainly got the resources. They offer tons of avenues to promote your band.

Musicians can upload their music for purchase or free download.

Links available to the other social networking sites the musician may have.

Information (tour dates, contests, news, etc) updated to other sites.

Mailing lists &  contests.

Videos  at sites like Youtube, Vimeo, etc.

Collect visitors and fans from other social networking sites the musician has.

The problem still exists as far as catching up with the people who have been there for a while. A daunting course. Some people have collected a crap load of widget hits and song plays. The ranking system requires a lot of this to move up to a significant position.

Ah yes, another task best done by someone other than the musician. Yes you can form a street team to do your bidding, clicking like a Tasmanian Devil to drive the stats.  Unfortunately we do music aimed more at the AAA crowd. They don’t do that! Ha!

Anyway the task is at hand and must get to clicking till I wear out my welcome.

Got the CD on the shelf in 3 Record Stores the other day. No great achievement, but a necessary exercise in the overall plan. Waterloo Records, Cheapo Records and Antones’ Records, three of the most well known privately run shops in Austin, regularly accept local band material on consignment. I now can at least say that the CD is available in local stores.

Leave it and they will find it. I doubt it! More will have to be done in that arena for sure. What about vinyl, me thinks out loudly..

Well I’ve run 3 song campaigns on LastFm with fairly good results. I have 80 some odd listeners so far. The plays are quite a bit more expensive compared to Jango, but on the up side they have a lot more listeners at this point. Although it seems to be a younger listening audience in general. Since our material is more in the Americana/Roots area, and older crowd is better.

In actuality, we really don’t know where to put our music genre wise. So I’m guessing a lot about who to associate the music along side. It seems to crossover into several mini-genres. Got another campaign working now. We’ll see how that goes.

I’ve managed to get the CD on several Internet Stations and retail stores, but the “brick & mortar” operations are not quite as simple. The big conglomerates such as Clear Channel definitely “who you know” walls of obstruction. But I have managed to get one so far. An independent in College Staion/Bryan Area appears to be ready to give me some air time. An earlier post chronicled the initial communications and now another following:

The Jango Experiment is working out pretty well so far.  Of course the temptation is to throw the whole CD out there, but everyone I’ve talked to has advised against it. Supposedly sticking to a small intro into the CD is better so that you don’t spread your listeners too thin. That is, it’s better to have 100 people liking one song than 10 people each liking 10 different songs. So far I’m getting about an 8.5% positive rating, which isn’t bad at all considering not many people know who we are yet. I’m happy with that kind of growth.

Therefore I’m taking it slow and trying to bring each song into the mix one at a time. Once I feel I’ve got enough initial appeal on each song, then I’ll add another to the mix. I have also started another experiment with LastFM. I won’t know much about how that ones going until first of next week. Still looking for one more like type web site to work with as well.

Still having a little bit of a problem deciding what like type groups to play along side.

I added the CD to a site called Jango. Like some other sites, one can pick like type artist to be played next to. If you get enough positive feedback you get on their general rotation. We reached that threshold.  So time will tell if this was a worthwhile endeavor.  I’ll let you know.

OK, “Unpegged” had me from Track 1: “Club Alright” with its driving percussion, catchy lyric, and really decent lead vocal. About half way thru the album, the vocals weren’t quite as consistent, but the energy and beat were still satisfying as was the recording quality.

Basically,  for its energy, fun, unique-in-a-mature-way sound, nice production, and interesting writing, Jim Wyly and Movin Target’s album “Unpegged” is a treat to listen to. Better than many singer-songwriter, live-band-act CDs I’ve heard. Oh, and a great excuse to turn off the cell phone, roll down the car windows, crank up the music, and drive around aimlessly.

Terri on CD Baby

Movin’ Target–UnPegged–This album moves from genre to genre going from a four to a eight piece band effortlessly. Blending keyboards, midi-guitar, harmonica, lots of percussion and vocal harmonies with a a sax or fiddle thrown in for good measure. The album definitely straddles a line between Americana and more traditional country. keeping the sounds fresh. The group is unique in that four of the band members sing lead vocals. It’s good Texas country/Americana keeping boots tapping. 4.0 McRiprock’s.