The Sheffield Live Music Scene

You would expect a city with a large university student population to have some dance clubs and other live music venues that cater to a young crowd. To say that about Sheffield is an extreme understatement. The vibrant live music scene in the city has been the soundtrack to life for citizens of Sheffield for over 30 years.

Past and present Sheffield musicians have enjoyed great success. Names from the not too distant past include Joe Cocker, Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker, Def Leppard, The Human League to name a few. More recently the Arctic Monkeys, Pink Grease, and The Long Blonds are very popular in and outside of Sheffield. The live music venues, such as clubs, pubs, halls, and stadiums fill the air with music, and vibrate the cities streets with a baseline.

So many talented acts come from Sheffield that is seems an odd coincidence. Perhaps something in the water that helps vocal cords develop, not likely, but something has to explain the large volume of musicians coming out of this fairly small area. Well, it’s not that big of a mystery.

It seems that in the early 1980s when the steel industry was on a down turn, someone on the Sheffield City Council heard about the big money involved in music. The multi-million dollar incomes of rock stars looked like an attractive way to bring a lot of money into the city. By 1982, a year that saw double-digit unemployment rates and 20,000 jobs lost, the City Council decided to do something about it by producing a few rock stars of their own.

It may not have occurred quite that way, but the fact is, the council got involved in the music business. They figured out that to have a great income producing music scene several things were needed. An infrastructure for the music industry was necessary, so the Council began funding projects related to music. A recording studio was needed to attract top acts and lot of live music venues were needed to showcase the local talent.

Sheffield City Trust owns Sheffield International Venues and operates Hallam FM Arena, and Sheffield City Hall to name a few of the 13 venues for music, sports, and entertainment. (SVI) Sheffield International Venues vision is to promote Sheffield as an international and cultural centre point for sport, leisure and entertainment, something they have been quite successful at doing since 1988.

Red Tape Studios is a training site for Sheffield City Council. It offers training to people interested in careers in the music business. Band Development, Band and Artist management, Music Technology, Music Business Courses and even DJ training courses are available. Because these courses are part of a local government backed system, they are competitively priced and the program really helps promote the music scene in Sheffield.

Of course the City Council offers other training units. Aspiring caterers, (if there is such a thing) can train at Sheaf Training alongside aspiring construction workers and customer service representatives. Tritec Computer Training is the City Council’s IT training ground and every city has at least one of these. The fact that the city recognizes and promotes popular music is just so surprising, and what’s more exciting and surprising is how well it works.

That answers the question how one small area can produce so many talented musicians. Not really a mystery, it’s more of a plan. Council backing is only a small part of the music scene however, and the venues that have been committed to growing the live music scene for the past twenty five or thirty years deserve much of the credit as well.

The Leadmill celebrated its silver anniversary in 2005, and has grown from a derelict flour mill in a rundown part of the city during the last stages of the steel industry’s demise. Unemployment and hopelessness was the consensus among young people at the time. A group of volunteers, students, artists, and unemployed people, who described themselves as “insane but likable” came together to set up a centre for arts and music for people like themselves who had nowhere to go.

The Leadmill has grown into a landmark, and the live music has grown legendary. The opening in 1980 of what was a performing arts center with jazz, pop bands, theatre, education workshops, and club nights began a tradition of live music that venues the world over have tried to emulate. The “insane but likable” founders turned out to be visionaries, except when they turned down a strange young blonde girl for a gig in 1983 who turned out to be Madonna. But who would have thought a club where the toilets backed up onto the dance floor would do so well. It’s not the bricks and mortar, but the bands and the experiences of the people who have been there time and time again that are memorable. The Leadmill is a launching pad for stars in the music business, and the place to see up and coming musicians in Sheffield.

The Leadmill is of course not the only famous live music venue in town, and is just one of the great live venues. There is a club in Sheffield for whatever your taste is. Live Music, DJ & MC stuff, techno, synthpop, indiepoppunk, and whatever other combinations of music are left over are represented somewhere in the city. Starting from a forward thinking city council and bright young people who love music, the city of Sheffield has been producing musicians like other cities produce butchers for the past 30 years.

Article by Susan Ashby of Sheffield Singles. To read more articles like this or for dating in Sheffield visit http://www.sheffield-singles.co.uk

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Live Music: Choosing a Venue for Your Listening Enjoyment

Do you like to listen to live music? When you think of live music what do you think of? Do you think of going to a huge stadium or concert hall and standing with thousands of other screaming fans while your favorite artist or band plays song after song? This is the type of experience that many people prefer when they think about “live music.” But, with the technology we have available today, it is possible to have a similar experience in your home every day.

It has been decades since the first live music concert was broadcast over cable television. This is a way that not just thousands but millions of viewers all over the country and even the world can be part of a live concert taking place in New York City, London, or even Tokyo. The televisions and stereo systems that we have today far outshine those of the past, and you may really feel like you are right there at the live music venue even if you are sitting in your living room or den. You can watch whatever you want to watch, eat whatever you want, and turn it up as loud as you want. Then, you can record it and watch it again later.

The internet is also a great resource for live music downloads. However, the term “live” in this case may be deceiving. Sometimes you can listen to actual music that is live, but for the most part the live performances you will find on the internet are recorded previously. They are not, however, the same recordings that you will buy on a CD. The music and the performances are unedited and raw. Many sites now offer free downloads so if this is your type of music experience you can put it on your MP3 player and go.

If you still prefer being at the venue for the live concert, but you can’t afford to spend a fortune, check out some of the local bands-you can hear samples from some of them online at sites like myspace music.

The opportunities are there for the taking.

Eriani Doyel writes articles about Music. For more information about live music visit fimmusic.com.

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Restaurants With Live Music Are Drawing Crowds in Our Bad Economy - 3 No-Cost Ways to Get Live Music

The sales of most weak-performing restaurants can be traced to the fact that there is nothing unique about the restaurant.

In this bad economy a restaurant has to be unique to successful. Live music can make almost any dining experience more enjoyable and it will bring in a crowd, but how can a small restaurant afford to have live music?

People are still eating out and many restaurants I visit have a waiting line -- even in the middle of the week. These restaurants have a waiting line because they are delivering an enjoyable dining experience and they are unique in some way.

If your restaurant is not unique, consider making it unique by adding live music

Many people are choosing to dine where they can enjoy live music. Of course, live music costs money, but musicians are hurting too and many very good musicians are now willing to play for a lot less they used to. Also, young musicians are a great source of good musical talent.

Be creative and find innovative ways to have live music in your restaurant. The conventional technique of paying good money for a three to five member band to play is probably not the way to go in this tight economy.

Here are three creative ways successful restaurants are getting great live music for little to no cost:

• One restaurant I visit a lot has a 13 year old girl playing the violin. She's good and she really draws in a crowd -- the cost is very low.
• Another restaurant lets a local music school have some of their best students play one or two nights a week. The music is good, the cost is zero and all of the relatives of the young musician come to eat and hear little Johnny or Sally play.
• Another restaurant has jam sessions most nights and they don't have to pay the musicians anything (except for furnishing them a pitcher or two of beer). They have a different type of music every night -- Sunday nights is jazz, Friday nights is country, etc. They have more musicians wanting to play (for free) than they have room for.

In other words, be creative and innovate, but do whatever it takes to give your restaurant an unique advantage and adding live music may be just what your restaurant needs.

Peter Drucker, who was the world's greatest expert on management, said that...

Innovation is the only real and lasting competitive advantage any business owner can ever have.

Right now, live music is one of the most innovative and under-used techniques for making a restaurant unique.

Bottom line: There's money to be made in the restaurant business in this bad economy and as an independent restaurant manager, you are in a better position than chain restaurant managers to take advantage of the situation because you can make decisions fast and change with the times.

One thing is for sure, you may not be able to make money in the restaurant business if you keep doing what you have always been doing -- but I think you already know that.

Now is the time to go make things happen and live music may be just what your restaurant needs.

About the Author Jerry Minchey is an engineer, author and researcher. He is the editor of http://www.MarketingYourRestaurant.com and author of the book, The Restaurant Marketing Bible. Jerry cuts through the hype and gets down to the bare facts to reveal how to market a restaurant on a shoestring budget. His low-cost restaurant marketing techniques have cut the marketing expenses for many restaurants by 80% or more while bringing in more customers than ever -- even in this bad economy. He consults with restaurant owners and managers all over the world showing them proven restaurant marketing techniques that work. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jerry_Minchey

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The Live Music Scene in Austin Texas

There is more live music going on in Austin, Texas on any given night than there is in any other city in the world. That's why the city has put a trademark on it's slogan "Live Music Capital of the World."

There are hundreds of live music venues in the city and its immediate environs. Many are situated in three main entertainment districts: Sixth Street/Red River, the Warehouse district and South Austin. Sixth Street/Red River is the famous sector in downtown Austin that is known around the world for it's live music scene and often boisterous crowds that fill Sixth Street on the weekends when it is closed to traffic. The Warehouse district runs west from Congress Ave. along Fourth and Fifth Streets. That's where Antone's is located, the venue that USA Today has named the best blues club in the country. In South Austin, there are a number of clubs on South Congress, South First St. and South Lamar that offer up some of the best new and original music in town.

The road to its live music capital status began way back in the 1960's when a spirit of eclecticism appeared with the hippies and anti-war protesters of that era. Inclusion was in and exclusion was out, no pun intended. With the 70's, this eclectic spirit gave birth to a form of music that was often called progressive country. Joe Ely, along with co-Lubbockites Jimmy Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock, brought this music down to Austin and hooked up with Marcia Ball and Delbert McClinton and cosmic cowboys like Jerry Jeff Walker, Michael Martin Murphy, Rusty Weir and Ray Wiley Hubbard. Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings came back from Nashville during that time to settle in Austin where they could take control of the production of their songs. A wild and powerful musical vortex formed that saw psychedelic rock and roll mix with straight out country and blues at venues such as the Armadillo World Headquarters, Threadgill's, the Soap Creek Saloon and the Broken Spoke. It was cool to dig the psychedelic sound of the 13th Floor Elevators and the uncompromising country licks of Alvin Crow at the same time.

Then, in 1975, a 30-minute University of Texas music program was accepted by a number of PBS affiliate stations and Austin City Limits was launched and has become the longest running program in the history of PBS. It has propelled Austin to the forefront of the music industry's consciousness in the US and around the world. That first program featured Willie Nelson, but has since put Texas music notables such as Marcia Ball, Lyle Lovett, Robert Earl Keen, Asleep at the Wheel and many, many others in the national and world spotlight.

In more recent years, the South by Southwest showcase every Spring that brings nearly 1500 musicians and musical acts to town to be seen and heard by industry executives and AR types, along with the Austin City Limits Festival in September, have kept the city on the national music map. In addition, dozens of other smaller festivals are held each year, as well as a number of nationally significant ones in the surrounding Hill Country such as the Kerrville Folk Festival and the Old Settlers Reunion in Buda, just south of town.

The Austin music scene has always been a free-wheeling, break-the-mold, think-out-of-the-box kind of affair. That early eclecticism lives on in the current scene, although some characteristics of the town's soundscape seem to have become entrenched. Sixth Street/Red River attracts a younger, party animal type of crowd with it's rock and roll, blues and punk scene. The Warehouse district caters to a bit older and more professional crowd in general. And South Austin retains the feel of Austin in the 70's with its nouveau hippie coffeehouses and crowds and its preference for good singer/songwriters. Still, there are always exceptions to those general tendencies just about anywhere you go.

Austin remains a city where musical creativity and talent thrive and defy expectations. That can be experienced close up and personal in any number of live music venues on any given night.

Escapeso Real Estate is a small company working in the Austin Texas real estate market. They provide a graphical search of the Austin MLS along with commentary on their blog about changes in the Austin real estate market. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ki_Gray

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