television/radio adverts and producing on-hold audio for telephone systems.
James has a solid background in band recording and sound design. James is also a keen record collector and has bought and sold vinyl since being a music student.
Over the years James has built up a vast knowledge of music and knows what is rare and collectible. He collects ‘60s and ‘70s psychedelic and progressive rock artists and has a vast collection of jazz 78s.
Passionate about surround sound, James is a Quadraphonic aficionado and has spent many years attempting to perfect the fiddly setup process required to extract four channels of audio from one groove. In recent years of record dealing, James met and became firm friends with MSI guest panellist and legendary record producer John Schroeder.
The show is recorded live and unscripted and unedited, have you had any funny things happen during the live broadcast?
Because the show is broadcast and recorded live and is, as you mentioned, unedited, there is always the opportunity for unexpected things to happen.
During one broadcast power was lost to the main broadcast studio, during a summer storm. This show is described by Ian as the Alien show, as he believes the look on my face, as the electricity flickered before, finally, going out, was the look of someone who is getting abducted by aliens.
This particular broadcast was interrupted, by the power outage, just as the panelists were selecting the Song of the Week. While one panelist was able to make their selection during the live show, the other two panelists had to make their selections on ‘tape’, which is one of three times when the show had to be ‘edited’.
The only other times that the show has been edited is when song selections have been found to have violated the song submission requirements. In these cases the songs are stricken from the video and audio record.
Besides Music Investigations do you have any other projects that help Independent Musicians?
In addition to MSI:, I’m also involved with Indie News At Noon, which is an online publication that provides Internet radio stations a freely available,
weekly, newscast covering events from the Indie world, which includes music, literature, film and more.
How did you get into the Independent Music Business?
I began my broadcast career in 1983, working with what would become a number of radio stations. I began working with online stations in the early 90’s and have been involved with independent music since 1982, when I began playing keyboards for an indie group called ‘Steel Teeth’.
How do you think Social Network can help an independent artist and what works best for you when promoting your show?
I don’t know that I’m the correct person to ask this question, but, as with anything in business (and music is a business), publicity is very important. Social media networks are one way of getting publicity.
Personally, I think that a lot of artists are using social media incorrectly. I get the impression that most thing of it as a way to advertise themselves and their ‘product’. That can become very annoying if it is all they do (and it seems that is the case for some). Social media is more about making a social connection than anything else. Take some time and get to know those you follow and who follow you. The more personable you are the more popular you, your band and your product can become.
I said I’m probably not the correct person to ask the question to, because, I am, personally, not a huge fan of social media. I don’t really enjoy sharing things about myself. That being said, we do use social media to promote and inform others about MSI: and new content. We find that connecting our social media accounts together, along with the web site, allows an efficient use of social media.
Do you have any advice for artists just starting out in the business?
The only advice I can give is likely the same as you’ve heard many times before. If you are a musician just beginning your journey, don’t do what you believe others will enjoy. Do what you enjoy. You’ll, most likely, be surprised at how many others will enjoy it too. Also, don’t believe 90% of what you read about yourself on the Internet, unless you are the one who published it - and then only believe half of that.