Facebook and Twitter are just two of the key ways that new musicians can market themselves, according to industry professionals who spoke as part of the Cossart Exchange’s fall workshop series.
Last Wednesday, the Exchange’s “Marketing the Music” brought experienced professionals from the music industry together with Hamilton musicians who are striving to get their music out into the marketplace.
Social media is just one way to give up-and-coming artists a starting point and a way to break into the industry, according to the music industry professionals who spoke at the panel.
The panel…

Second albums are tough, especially for artists who achieve a moderate level of success with their debut. With 3 big hits on rock radio, Hamilton’s own Arkells definitely achieved success. For their sophomore “Michigan Left” they decided to up the ambition, producing the album themselves and as well as designing the album artwork.
The music here is not as catchy as that of their first album, but it is more song oriented, and this yields  more consistency and maturity to the record. The band still lays the poppy rock hooks on thick with such…

“For fans saying Donald Glover about to blow. Just give me six months so you can say I told you so.”
It’s been more than six months since Donald Glover rapped that on “F*** It All” from his third independently released album entitled “Culdesac”, but he’s been keeping busy regardless.
He has a starring role as Troy Barnes in the NBC hit show “Community”, has toured extensively under the rap moniker “Childish Gambino”, DJ’d as “mcDJ” and is also doing stand-up comedy.
Maybe you’ve seen him from his early Internet sketch comedy days in…

This past week, we lost the man who challenged the world to “Think Different.”
Apple co-founder Steve Jobs died this week at the age of 56 after battling pancreatic cancer. His death comes only months after Jobs stepped down as Apple’s CEO.
Jobs brought Apple to the technological forefront, by not only making the computer personal, but breathing life into a dying music industry. He truly changed the way we all listen to music.
iTunes came along as a game changer in a time when most people weren’t paying for music. Peer to peer…

As of recently, many stalwarts of the ‘original’ pop punk scene are trying to take the genre back from the new guard.  Sum 41 is enjoying success off the back of their latest album, ‘Screaming Bloody Murder.’  The Ataris and MxPx are currently finishing up new albums that are set to catapult them back onto the scene.  Even Blink 182, commonly referred to as the best pop punk group, is enjoying renewed success after a lengthy, eight-year absence.  However, with their sixth full length release, ‘Radiosurgery’, New Found Glory have taken it upon themselves…

Canadian rock icon Ian Thomas was at Mohawk’s McIntyre Theatre Thursday, speaking to music students and fans alike about his life in music.
Thomas, best known for his 1973 hit ‘Painted Ladies’ and his membership in the band The Boomers, spent much of the hour discussing not just the music he was known for, but his theories on the writing process and what drove him personally to create art.
“Creativity is a mixed blessing in some respects, which is partly why all my life I’ve been blessed with branching out into other areas,” he…

Thirty- one years is a long time to be in a band, especially in today’s music industry. With bands becoming as disposable as the iTunes cards used to buy their music, it’s a triumph for a band to hit their ten-year anniversary, forget surpassing their thirtieth. The number of bands who have reached this accomplishment can probably be counted on two hands. Once you look beyond the Rolling Stones, U2, Rush and Aerosmith, it becomes increasingly hard to continue the list.
This past week, the world lost one of the few bands to stay…

The Shins have had a very dynamic last few years, going through a lot of members in a very short period of time, all the while keeping their sound consistent. Playing to an incredibly enthusiastic sold out crowd at the Phoenix Concert Theatre Thursday, the band showed that they have changed a lot while not changing much at all, putting on a show that fully represents the music they put out: very intimate and very, very fun.
The Shins of today is no longer the Shins of 2007, when they released their last album…

Hamilton musician/legend Tom Wilson once said, “no one in Hamilton is trying to be anyone but themselves.”
That really is what Hamilton is all about, especially when you look at local music.
Hamilton is, and always will be, the “steel city.” This community is built on the work ethic of the blue-collar individual, making an honest living. Our music reflects that. Arkells’ “Jackson Square” has a raw, bluesy quality reminiscent of this area. The Reason is straightforward, hard working rock, a nod to the forefathers of this city.
But if you really want to…