BBC Wales Blog "Ketch A vibe, Diversifying a Career"

One of the people with whom I have had repeated discussions in the past year about music and the business of making money is Cardiff's Claire Simone. She's a jazz and soul singer with almost two decades' experience and a lot of fans including BBC 6 Music's Craig Charles.

Good friends, good reputation and a pair of powerfully smoky lungs isn't enough though, and she's vocal about the problems she has making a living out of her music. Read her blog entry 'The seemingly impossible dream to be able to earn a living through making music'.

But she's ever-positive, and she's doing something that musicians are being advised to look into these days: diversifying. Conventionally, this might be to 'open up revenue streams' - self-publish, go into promoting, that kind of thing - but it doesn't have to be.

Simone has turned a passion for music into an internet radio show that has given her an outlet for playing tracks she loves, and also - in a round-about fashion - increased her own profile.

Aja And Claire's Ketch A Vibe is the brainchild of Simone and Anthony Aja Allsop, "a self-confessed soul boy from London's East End". In the world of the internet, so much stuff gets lost, but Ketch A Vibe ("recorded on the top of a mountain in Caerphilly"), with its eclectic music policy and concentration on new, independent and unsigned artists, is punching above its weight.

It's been picked up and syndicated by radio stations across the world and the UK, including in Las Vegas, Birmingham, Montenegro, London and Lithuania. In addition, they've become regular guests on more radio stations also internationally.

"Getting involved with radio has definitely helped raise my profile," she says. "We do not focus on me, or indeed my music, in our shows; it is about exposing all new music, but I do get the opportunity to play my tracks and of course plug my website!

"The job of networking, building contacts and potential working relationships is one of the most difficult things when you're an independent artist. Aja and I receive new music every day from artists and producers from around the world. Having this direct link and contact with them has given me the opportunity to seek out people I could work with and discuss possibilities.

"It has broadened my horizons and subsequently am currently working on projects with a number of great producers here in the UK and the US."

Thinking tangentially about music and the way it can be disseminated is now part of an artist's armoury. It might not add revenue straight away, but it can't be bad to widen your contact base and pool ideas can it?

You can watch Aja and Claire invite submissions and interaction on YouTube (caution: contains adult themes).


Blog written by James McLaren at : http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/walesmusic/2010/10/ketch-a-vibe-claire-simone.shtml

Aja's thoughts on Jazz today.

I understand people all have their own taste in the Jazz Music that they choose to listen too, and that is cool. But when these same people arrogantly dismiss the musicians who explore the boundaries within Jazz, I despair.  I believe that Jazz is not one form of music that belongs to any individual style, but is more a conceptual form of expression which allow musicians to be inspired by the greats, but allows them the freedom to create.    This attitude to me is an endless cycle of outright denial, and an example of people existing in there own safe little boxes,  in almost all cases pigheadedly simply refusing  to move out of it. This is the main reason, especially in the States that the Jazz music is in a very sad state of affairs. In my opinion, one of the main instigators is what they call "Smooth Jazz", radio stations playing nothing but safe, uninspiring and quite frankly boring music, refusing to support or play anything out of the box. I realise however that it does have it's place and if it means people are listening to jazz it can be no bad thing. I just wish that the stations would take the responsibility they have to their listeners and promote and play at least some of the new Jazz music coming through, at least give the listeners the opportunity to hear what is out there. Another problem is a lot of musicians are just simply regurgitating the same old music ( i:e the great American songbook ),  that's the main reason why the age group at most of the Jazz festivals are, let's say middle aged upwards. Here in the UK,  the festivals are still very popular, I have attended many in the last few years, but unless they start to make the music more accessible and appealing to the younger generation, in 20-30 years time there will be little, if no Jazz scene apart from the academics crying in to there beers " what happened to Jazz " ? To me Jazz has always been about the art of improvisation looking for different beats and styles trying to explore. Jazz has to be spoon fed very very slowly people, and to the young people especially. There is so much wonderful New/Nu jazz around, most of it coming from Europe, it's fresh and exciting. It's wonderful young musicians/dj's who are still trying to break new Jazz and it's the young people that are appreciating and going out to the clubs and most importantly buying as well. I believe the problem is firmly within the Jazz industry, and I am laying the blame with the purist, their opinion is that it's not jazz if it incorporates Rap/samples/broken beats/Dance/Soul. Surely if you can get people to listen to Jazz, in in any form that has to be good for the music ? and just maybe they might start to investigate the legends Miles & Co ? Basically it's as simple as this we all need to try and open our minds to the music that is around now, I believe this can be the saviour of  "Jazz" please no more versions of Around Midnight or Nights in Tunisia !,  yes it has it's place,  but please please try writing something new  for a change instead of keep looking back and copying.

Aja & Claire Simone's Ketch A Vibe Show

The Last Two Years in a Nutshell !! Recording with JJ, Trip to Lyon, Working with Elizabeth Fields, Filming my music video's and much more.

The Last Two Years in a Nutshell !!

Recording with JJ, Trip to Lyon, Elizabeth Fields, Filming my music video's and much more :-)

Hello and welcome back to my blog. It has been a long long time since my last entry, this is mainly because I was using my website to update my news. Unfortunately, due to an onslaught of continuous virus attacks I had to take down my website. Thankfully due to the fact that most people these days are using social network sights instead of websites, I am finding I don't actually need a personal website anyway !

I plan to start blogging regularly, not just about my news, but also my experiences within the music industry, good and bad. Much has happened in two years, and as I have already written about the hardships and state of the industry in a previous blog, it seems things have got worse still. But that can wait until my next blogs !. This blog is an update on what I have been up to since June 2010.

Two years have quite literally flown by, I don't know where to start really. I have recorded lots of music, worked with some great producers worldwide I am proud to say, had my music played on T.V, continued to do well with radio play and even filmed music videos.

2010 was a busy year, Aja and I decided to go independent with our Ketch A Vibe shows which was a bit of a risk, but a risk that has really paid off. Fed up of the politics within certain radio stations and some asking for you to pay them to be on the station, we thought we would go it alone. We are now on show 79, and over the last 15 months have been asked to join radio stations all over the world including the U.S, Japan, Montenegro, Lithuania, Spain, Italy, UK & Austria. We are very proud of growth of our show now averaging at around 3000 listeners, and we aim to continue onwards and upwards. It is a pleasure, and most of all a passion for us to be able to showcase new, unheard and independent music, and our ultimate goal is to continue to raise the platform for new forward thinking Jazz, Soul and Blues music. Thanks to all our supporters and listeners, keep spreading the word. If you haven't discovered Ketch a Vibe yet, find us here : Aja & Claire Simone's Ketch A Vibe show and on i-tunes.

During 2010 I also had the privilege of working with Elizabeth Fields on her album. It was a pleasure to work in the Magic Garden studio with Gavin Monaghan and to meet so many talented musicians including Fred Wisdom, Clair Rogoff, Dulcie Pheonix and many more. Last July I joined Elizabeth and the guys on stage at a showcase in Wolverhampton which was great fun. Elizabeth is due to release her album sometime this year, I will let you know when.

In summer 2010 I did a couple of gig with Blues Band Blues Is Truth, including the Reading Arts Centre and the world famous Bulls Head in Barnes, London. Here I met a very gifted young man named Bennet Soundy, Bennet plays the saxophone like a musician with years and years of playing in him, watch out for this young man, he has a bright future ! You can watch a video of a performance here.

Moving on to 2011, I got together with my very good friend Joseph Junior and worked on a track produced and sent to me from Armand Tulumello from Miami. The track " Inside Of You " was well received and has featured on radio in various countries. I was honoured to have a number of remixes done by great producers including Maqman, Danny Massure and Richard E. You can find the track here : Juno Records

Huge thanks to all involved with this project, and special thanks to Mr Richard Molyneux who I worked with previously on my Organic EP, and his gorgeous wife Emma for letting me and Jo invade your studio and home for the day..p.s yummy chilli ;-)

Moving forward to July, Aja and I made a trip to Lyon to work with Jean-luc Briancon of Abigoba. We had the best time ! JL produced a track for me which I wrote for to record with him in his studio in Lyon. The moment we landed I was straight to work recording the track called " Keep The Dream Alive ", JL wanted me to take a rest first as I hadn't slept due to the flight time, but I was raring to go, call it adrenaline. Jean-luc's studio was amazing, an underground cave once used for gold 100's os years ago, very cool indeed ! We got the bulk of the vocal recorded in a few hours that first afternoon, I went off to sleep for a few hours. Jean-luc and I finished the recording the following day. Lyon was amazing, we went to a cool Jazz music venue and met some musicians who I hope to perform with this year when we go back to Lyon again. We received wonderful hospitality on our trip, huge thanks to Francois and Patricia for making us feel so welcome. Aja and I cannot wait for our next visit.

Not long after our return from France, I decided to put together an acoustic set to do some intimate gigs. I asked my friend James Chadwick and his beautiful Gibson to join me, after a rehearsal we went out and performed a number of gigs which were fab. As a result of working with James I was introduced to an extremely talented young man called Andrew Lawson. Co-incidental, as it so often turns out in the small world of music, we had a mutual friend. Andrew had studied under my close friend and producer Odilon at the RWCMD. Now expanding his empire, Andrew invited me and James to his studio to record and film 2 of my songs live. We had a brilliant time, and the results are amazing, you can watch the video's here. Huge thanks to Andrew, who I also want to thank for helping me out with another recording ;-).

I refer to a track I recorded for Russian based producer Vitaliy Stodolya . I had a blast recording the track, it is a dance stomper and is so far going down very well with the DJ's, remixes coming soon.

This is pretty cool too, late one night in September I got a call from Jackanory, the producer on my Organic EP. He informed me that my song “Take You There “ had been played on Channel 4's Hollyoaks ! My first television play..yeay :-) Not so sure about the Hollyoaks thing, but hey ho..I suppose I'm “ Down with the kids ” !!

Anywho, that is pretty much it. Hope you enjoyed reading my update, I will endeavour to update my blog regularly.

Please feel free to share the link :-)

Claire xxx

It's getting exciting !

Hello, and welcome back to my blog.





Well, lots has been going on, a recent departure from a band, (things didn't quite work out like I had hoped !), another recording session with Elizabeth Fields at Magic Garden studio's in Wolverhampton and most importantly the mastering of my tracks for my upcoming EP "Organic"!! >>>





Spent a few hours with my great friend and superbly gifted Odilon Marcenaro mastering, was brilliant to hear the tracks through the studio system, and there was not much to do, as my producer, Jackanory and the guys had done such a great job on the mixes.


It was nice to be back in the old studio, I used to do alot of my recording there, and it was the studio where I recorded my demo "Burning".


The tracks are sounding amazing, and I am very excited about the forthcoming release on July 31st .





I have to say, I am really starting to relax and enjoy myself now. I think all the years of up and downs, let downs, unprofessional people and sharks..and I am sure there will be more, have taught me well. I have released the pressure, and insecurity and excepted I am on my own personal path. It takes a while to do that, I spent years trying to fit into place, you know, trying to do what others thought I should. I learned that everyone has an opinion, and they are very entitled to it, however you should always trust your instincts and believe in yourself.


It's great to be in this place now, enjoying the process of networking and making music, working on various projects etc, the whole music business/industry can really fry your brain..and I can totally understand why some artists and musicians throw in the towel.


I have been close many times myself, but I know deep down I am a musician and how unfulfilled I would be being anything else !





The way I see it, If people like the music I make and I achieve some success that would be the icing on the cake..but I admit I would continue on making music irrelevant. It's what we all dream of, acceptance, success etc, but it is certainly not guaranteed. Ultimately for me, it is about doing the things that make me happy, after all you only get one life !!





So, the EP will be released July 31st..along side a re-launch of my new look website ! I also have a number of radio interviews set up and hopefully a few appearances and a little promo vid..I am on a serious promotion mission !!


I will keep you updated of dates/times etc..and where my EP will be available for download.





Aja and I have taken a break from radio for a little while, we are doing hour podcasts at the moment, you can download them at Aja & Claire Simone's Ketch A Vibe Podcast site

And don't forget to visit my website for updates ! Claire Simone






See you next time !!
Have fun :-)

Claire xxx

Change is good !

Hello, welcome back to my blog.



I have just come off the phone from a good friend of mine, due to the information I received during the call I decided to write today about the difficulties in attempting to take music forward and create something new.
I have talked about how seemingly impossible it is to make a sustainable income from music in a previous blog, but one thing I didn't mention was the invisible walls and barriers that exist preventing change and the pushing of the boundaries in contemporary music.
During my conversation with my friend, I learned how some of the well established Jazz/Soul/Blues venues in and around London are suffering financially, simply because they had made the decision to support musicians and bands creating new sounds. It has become apparent that people are reluctant to embrace change, ticket sales have fallen and the regulars are requesting the old favourites.
I am somewhat reluctant to say, as an artist within the Jazz/Soul/Blues genre, that this seems to be the case more so in my genre than other forms of music. As someone who enjoys all styles and genres in music, I have observed that other genres are more keen to embrace change and new music, especially in rock music. The audiences are hungry for the next movement and where the music will go next, and as a result the music is thriving.


Of course all music stems from individual or collective influences from music history, John Lennon said it best
"Once a thing has been done, it's been done, so why this nostalgia?. Looking backwards for inspiration, like to the sixties and seventies, copying the past, how is that rock and roll ?, do something of your own, start something new, you know, live your life now " - John Lennnon BBC 1968.

Some people use a term for people who prefer to stay in one place as far as making and performing music is concerned, they call them "purists". They follow a strict set of rules and boundaries in there chosen musical form, and anything outside those boundaries is rejected. The most relevant person I can think of who challenged these boundaries back in the 70's is Herbie Hancock, I know there are many more..but for this piece I will use Herbie. When he introduced his electronic sounds into his Jazz, it was instantly rejected..not as music, but as Jazz music. Thankfully Herbie also began to build support and fans and continued to make his music, and has influenced many many musicians, all keen to move forward..but unfortunately still rejected by the so called "purists".
This contributes to the point I made at the beginning about the venues struggling to support new music today.

The result of which is cheap tickets just to get people in the door, resulting in low wages for the working bands. I myself know all to well the struggle to earn money playing with a band, it is why so many simply cannot take there music to the live venues.
From my own perspective, it seems to be a battle to promote new music, with a very very low success rate for few. Indeed I know some well established music makers who cannot fill a venue, and struggle to sell tickets.
It could be argued that it could be because the music is not good enough, but I would argue against that. I believe it comes down to the reluctance of people to move forward and embrace creativity and new sounds. It is familiarity they seek, the chords and structures they recognise, again, the nostalgia.

I am about to release some new music in July, though it has influences from music history, it is mine and my producers vision for my songs..and I hope, new music. It remains to be seen what kind of response I receive..as I am breaking some of the "rules". But I must say, I look forward to it..even if I am a little nervous !

It comes down to this, you have to keep making the music that is inside you..and not conform..continue to believe in yourself. For me it is the only way you will stay true to your heart and soul..and you can always say you did it for you first, before others. Unfortunately we have no control over how people will respond.
I just say, don't let the "industry and business side of music dictate who you are.. good music is good music and people will love it !!

See you next time !

Making music !

Hello, welcome back to my blog !







Though I recently published a blog on my thoughts about the music industry, It's been a few months now since my last entry and lots has been happening !







The EP I recorded back in January is very close to completion, so I am getting ready for all the hard work of self promotion. I consider myself a bit of a veteren now when it comes to promoting my music, as I am sure all independant artists are these days. I have done very well in the past, securing plenty of airplay and building great contacts. I am very proud of this work, and I am looking forward to getting it out for people to hear ! So gearing up now !!





The track I recorded with Dee C'rell "Black From the day" is now available on the compilation album "Lounge Du Soliel" through Lemongrassmusic and other reputable download sites. The track has aslo been doing well, and received airplay on ono other than Jazzfm if you please !!




Recently, I have become invloved with Blues Is Truth, a wonderful blues band. I recorded a track with them a few months ago, called 'Coming Home'. I have to tell you the story, because I still can't quite believe it myself.



We left lovely Wales for Reading, gave ourselves plenty of time..but alas..just my luck, they had closed off the bridge just as we got there, an accident in the fast lane. So one and a half hours later we were back on our way. Almost 2 hours late I arrived at the studio, I walked in, the guys said "Hello Claire, right are you ready then ? " So on went the cans, and I did the track in one take, and then did another straight away for a backup, how about that for professionalism !!!! I had only heard the song twice before aswell, so I just went with my instinct. Since I recorded it, it has received airplay all over the world ! It is doing really well which is very cool !


Last week we had the Blues Is Truth album 'Today's Specials' launch which was wicked..band were mega..and the crowd was brilliant !! If you were there, huge thanks for coming along.

I am so chuffed to be able to finally say I am officially a recording artist..yeay..now I want to just do more and more..make lots of music.

See you next time
Love
Claire xxx

Do not give up your dreams !

Hello, and welcome back to my blog.


This blog is not really about me for a change, ha ha, but seriously, I felt compelled to write it due to the general feeling amongst my fellow artists about the current state of the music industry.


Of late I have been having more and more conversations with independent artists, and even established artists, all sharing similar views and frustrations with the increasingly evaporating integrity within the music industry.
It has always been a difficult industry to work in, and has seen many great people destroyed, but it has definitely taken a turn for the worse this last decade.

The most common frustration seems to be the seemingly impossible dream to be able to earn a living through making music these days. I do have opinions about why this is the case, but I want to stress that these are my personal opinions, derived from my observations, not only from being in the thick of things as an independent artists myself, but also from working in radio closely with many artists.

I will start with the Internet, it has been both a blessing and a curse for the music industry. It has provided the means and the engine to allow unsigned and independent artists to get their music out and promote it to the world, but it takes time, dedication and a flare for networking. On the other hand the music sites are saturated with 1000's of artists all clambering the ladder for success. Now please don't get me wrong, I am all for people exploring creativity, if you find peace and tranquility in music..that is what is all about. However, most are pursuing fame, fortune and celebrity. I am sure most of you that have used any of the music networking sites have come across those artists who push themselves on you..sending endless promotion messages etc. These tools are great, if and only if you are researching the people you are pitching yourself too, quantity is not the way..trust me. Being selective and approaching people individually who you think will be interested in your music is the only way to get any results !! I cannot tell you how many punk and heavy metal bands send me promotion messages...WHY ??
These sites are also full of people looking to pray on naive, hungry artists..telling them exactly want they want to hear to get hold of their hard earned money, I myself have been privy to a number of these operators as I have told you in previous blogs.

The wonder of the Internet is that people are accessing information and getting more and more for free, and as a result are reluctant to pay for things that they can just as easily get for nothing, due to file sharing..free downloads etc etc. The major artists, with the huge companies are really the only ones these days who still seem to pull in revenue from record sales, even so, they are licencing the music for use in commercials and exhausting all means of generating income from the music.
I was asked the other day, why do people buy into the rubbish music in the charts..Though I don't actually think all commercial music is rubbish, I do understand that point. I see it as clever marketing, bombarding people with images on billboards, and t.v and radio. Most people do not have the time to spend sourcing music they may actually discover they adore..so what they see and hear is all they know. And now with the threat to the closer of BBC6 music I fear it will only get worse.

If you want the whole package these days, success, record sales, world tours etc..apparently you need to be mindful of what the masses are buying and tailor yourself to fit the bill. I am happy to report that most of my good friends and colleagues, including myself fully intend to continue creating the music we love. So here in lies the double edged sword..do you strive to stay true to your heart and your music, consequently struggling to make music a sustainable career in music, or do sacrifice and compromise for success, to become something you are not to achieve your dreams of success ? Can you imagine David Bowie, or Prince compromising their musical integrity, they did what was in their souls...and achieved success with it, however the music industry was a very different place back then, it celebrated and rewarded individuality and originality.
I know many many amazing artists and bands that are losing faith and simply cannot keep going. They are creating superb albums, investing time and money in a product, and not getting heard or recognised, or even making their money back from sales, forcing them to give up. I was told by a good friend just the other day, that in a conversation with music industry folk, he was told that if he wanted a sustainable income from music he should concentrate on writing pop music !

Like I said, this are just my thoughts..please feel free to add any points in my comments box.

I wish I had the answer, or indeed a crystal ball which reassured me that things will change.

All I can say is, many many times I have thought of giving up..things seeming almost impossible to bother to continue, but something drives me on..most of all my love and passion for music and a belief that one day the listening audience will say NO MORE to the greedy corporate engines, and make their own choices about what is great music, whatever style they enjoy.

Keep believing in yourself, remember why you started making music and always be yourself, do not lose sight of your dreams..
I believe we will take back real music one day soon..together :-)

Love and hugs

Claire xxxx