Bonus – LIFE IS HARD: Internet Marketing and Recording on a Budget

04/15/12 • 99 min

The Songwriting Podcast is a monthly music podcast where three hosts revel in the technical and creative aspects of the craft of songwriting, with the help of guest songwriters or some other music industry professional.

But this show is a BONUS episode featuring a lecture-style interview with a songwriter duo called Life Is Hard, consisting of Robert Iutzwig and Tim Marshall.

Life Is Hard has one of the best examples of a professional online presence that we’ve seen from indie musicians who aren’t funded by the marketing muscle of a major label. So, The Songwriting Podcast asked these experts to teach us all about Internet Marketing and Recording on a Budget.

In fact, Life Is Hard was kind enough to prepare a very valuable, 16-page PDF document from their lecture notes, which also include various links. Click here to download Life Is Hard’s Indie Artist Guide to Music Marketing.

And as always, we took some time to play a song by Rob and Tim called “Red Rocks.” They explain their songwriting process for that tune afterward.

LIFE IS HARD Links (See what we mean?) :

last.fm (indie radio)

Radio Indy (indie radio)

IM Radio (indie radio)

... And we think they have even more, but you get the point. Life Is Hard is working hard and doing their Internet marketing right.

Your hosts are Craig Tovey, Grant Adams (though he’s absent during this episode) and Jason Pyles. The Songwriting Podcast posts new episodes on the first day of every month — and we’ll be posting Episode 9 here on May 1.

And here is a list of some other links referenced during this episode:

The “Driftin’ Away” video”

The “Life Is Hard” video

The Dave Eaton Element’s Bandcamp Page

Bandcamp

Pomplamoose

Pomplamoose’s YouTube Music Video for “Bust Your Knee Caps”

A MUST-READ Article on Pomplamoose by the Houston Press

Kawika Heftel at Heftel Studios

Book recommendation:

But this show is a BONUS episode featuring a lecture-style interview with a songwriter duo called Life Is Hard, consisting of Robert Iutzwig and Tim Marshall.

And as always, we took some time to play a song by Rob and Tim called “Red Rocks.” They explain their songwriting process for that tune afterward.

LIFE IS HARD Links (See what we mean?) :

last.fm (indie radio)

Radio Indy (indie radio)

IM Radio (indie radio)

... And we think they have even more, but you get the point. Life Is Hard is working hard and doing their Internet marketing right.

And here is a list of some other links referenced during this episode:

The “Driftin’ Away” video”

The “Life Is Hard” video

The Dave Eaton Element’s Bandcamp Page

Bandcamp

Pomplamoose

Pomplamoose’s YouTube Music Video for “Bust Your Knee Caps”

A MUST-READ Article on Pomplamoose by the Houston Press

Kawika Heftel at Heftel Studios

Book recommendation:

Previous Episode

Ep. 8 – JEREMY BATTEN, MICHAEL STEWART, BILL BARNES: Composition and Method

Episode 8 features three songwriters: Jeremy Batten, Michael Stewart, and Bill Barnes.

(Jeremy and Michael also play for the band The Ultimatums. You can also find Michael Stewart on Facebook.)

Our topical themes are Composition — with some music theory discussion included — and Writing Concise Lyrics and overall Writing Method, among other things. We take an in-depth look at Jeremy’s song, “Questions” — and we also listen to Michael’s song, “Nothing.”

And of course, this episode also features specialty segments, such as Send Your Song (where we have two very interesting submissions to review: “Lost and Found” by Vincent Tomasso and “In the Sky” by Fizzy Mits); Don’t Do the Dumb Things That Jason Did (led by Jason’s long-time songwriter best friend, Bill Barnes); and Moving to Nashville, which features “Nashville” Steve Rempis. We also introduce Jason’s new songwriting student, Mesake Finau, who brings us “Mesake’s Tunes,” a segment that will supplement Craig Can Write. Grant Adams was unable to join us again this month, so his Grant’s Rants ... and Raves! segment is still missing.

Moving to Nashville: This month Nashville Steve Rempis teaches us about copyrighting. Thanks, Steve!

Send Your Song: The hosts of The Songwriting Podcast invite budding — as well as seasoned songwriters — to send their songs to us, and we will critique them on the show, giving constructive feedback, which consists of positive and negative points, and is merely based on our opinions. Feel free to contact us about sending your song at [email protected].

Your hosts of The Songwriting Podcast are Craig Tovey, Grant Adams and Jason Pyles. The Songwriting Podcast posts new episodes on the first day of every month. To contact us or to send your feedback, you can leave a voice mail at (801) 382-8789, or as noted above, you can e-mail us at [email protected]. And you can also find us on Facebook.

We’d like to thank the Dave Eaton Element for the use of its tunes for our theme music, and we’d also like to thank Kara Brewer for her graphic design work.

Episode 8 of The Songwriting Podcast was recorded on March 21, 2012.

Next Episode

Ep. 9 – “NASHVILLE” STEVE REMPIS: Taking the Leap to Launch a Professional Music Career

Episode 9 features our honorary fourth co-host — the author of our Moving to Nashville segment, “Nashville” Steve Rempis.

In this genuinely inspiring episode, Steve talks about Taking the Leap to Launch a Professional Music Career, as well as other, related topics, such as: How do you know when you’re ready to pursue a full-time music career? How do you know if you’ve “got what it takes” to become a professional musician? Should you move to Nashville, New York City, Los Angeles or some other place to launch your career? What happens if you never “make it”? Steve also teaches about making your music interesting, as well as many other topics.

Nashville Steve also debuts his brand new song on The Songwriting Podcast — “A Little Behind” — and he gives some insights into his method and inspiration for writing it.

Find Steve Rempis and all his important links here:

And of course, this episode also features specialty segments, such as our Send Your Song segment, where we discuss Cole Hansen’s songs, “Tightrope Walker” and “The Home I Build.”

Cole Hansen on Soundcloud

Cole Hansen on Facebook

Next Month’s Send Your Song Submission: Bryan Odeen’s “Be More.” Feel free to contact us about sending your song at [email protected].

Steve also talks about what’s coming up on his next few Moving to Nashville segments. And naturally, we have more of Don’t Do the Dumb Things That Jason Did (because there’s never any shortage). This month Jason lists 8 dumb things that you should never do during live performances. And we have this month’s segment of Mesake’s Tunes, where Mesake debuts the first verse and chorus that he has ever written!

And Grant Adams returns for this episode, brining you Grant’s Rants ... and Raves (with a new theme song by Nashville Steve Rempis).

Grant’s Rant: Kid Rock’s song “All Summer Long” (and everything else he’s done). Here’s a song that takes samples from “Sweet Home Alabama” for the chorus, and “Werewolves of London” for the verses. Yet, amazingly, the lyrics of the song are about his good old days in northern Michigan! How did this happen? If I knew the record execs who actually gave Kid Rock the permission to bastardize these classic songs, I would order them tarred and feathered. Take note, dear listeners, this might just be one of the worst songs that has ever been recorded. Remember, as a word of warning, the music you listen to affects the music you write.

If you feel like you’ve been bad and need to abuse yourself in some little way, go to TheArtistDen.com and listen to the Kid Rock set. You can listen to him perform his songs live and do mediocre versions of some of the great classic rock songs you’ve grown up with.

On the other hand, if you feel like rewarding yourself, go to the same Web site and skip to Iron & Wine, which takes me to my raves.

Grant’s Raves:
Iron & Wine – The albums have a sweetness and introspective quality to them. Sam Beam has become one of today’s greatest songwriters and storytellers. His lyrics can even be read as poetry. Listen to them in an entirely new light as he guides an 11-piece band and plays most of the songs from the latest album.

Gotye – Some friends of mine drove over 1,000 mile...