"She's Beginning to See" Music By Steve Moore - Video Carla Horne

Carla asked is she could use my song - and I was like SURE - of course, I'd have preferred to recorded it...
and probably will so she can redo the video - but she did a GREAT JOB!  And it's my sincere hope that this video will REACH just one person if not MORE! 



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcK-Knq7iec


I'm sure that if and when I can find the time I'll rerecord the song for Carla - as this was a one take recording with a Zoom Q3 - and NOT done in PRO TOOLS as it should have been...

I'm just SUPER PLEASED that CARLA chose MY SONG for the subject matter!

All the best,

Steve M @ MSO

That place that I go -

Unless you’ve been there – you can’t imagine it – once you’ve been you can never describe it – it’s an amazing place that’s just full of emotion and creativity and it only comes out when I play music….


Its Magical…it’s incredible and I just wish that for those who have ever wished they could play really well – that they could just know how it feels just ONCE to be able to just make things happen off the cuff and the let the MUSIC FLOW from your soul!


As my fiddle player said, "you can take ONE CHORD and make it completely interesting and even turn that into a SONG!"   Jamming so say the LEAST! 


I LOVE IT!

SM @ MSO

Two New Authors! And I've got two more books on the WAY!

Working with an INCREDIBLE writer - the first time I read her work - the HAIR literally was standing on the back of my neck - can't say much more but we're using a new company to do the web/blog and Social Media -which is all underway, and I'll be her manager, literary agent, and more...as MORE things are to come! 

I've also got a book tentatively called "State Rights" - but you'd be surprised that it's FICTION but based upon a "time period" and some timely events...a "Forrest Gump" meets reality...

And I'm getting out my 2nd Edition to fit with the many changes over the past few years...it should be a good read - but it's probably going to be more like the "The Truth about the Music Business, Digital Media, Social Revolution, and the storm of new technology" -

I just LOVE to write and have cranked out more material as of late - it's time to get it all into completed formats - but I may release my Fiction - very similarly to Valkyrie Morgan - in 3 episode for Vol1 and then 3 more for Vol II  - we'll see how it unfolds - as "State Rights" could be a LONG tail - or end up short- but as much as I write - probably in the ORDER of "WAR and PEACE' - we'll see...only with TIME will we know...

SM @ MSO

AL KOOPER on Ronnie Hammond and Robert Nix

I should take a picture of my Platinum Album that Robert Nix gave me from the Atlanta Rhythim Section-I'll get around to it later - HOWEVER:


I'll PREFACE this post about a LETTER that I just read with the fact that Robert Nix and I are both back in MS and still trying to set the MOON on FIRE! Robert and I met in Nashville and became FAST FRIENDS and he gave me my FIRST PLATINUM RECORD for the work I did for him and for the Atlanta Rhythm Section - tracking EVERY song and everything they did while in Atlanta and under the management of a pretty Ruthless Company that messed the ENTIRE BAND, and or course Robert, over pretty bad - it would break your HEART to hear the stories I've heard about artist and writers that DID NOT GET PAID nearly what they should have or outright had their BAND NAME STOLEN FROM THEM! There never seemed to be any limit to the GREED in the music business!
But this is about Robert and Ronnie Hammond - Go in PEACE RONNIE!
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From: Al Kooper
Re: Ronnie Hammond – Atlanta Rhythm Section

I knew Ronnie Hammond well. I befriended the band they were b4 ARS when they played New York as “The Candymen”. They were Roy Orbison's back up band and they opened for “The Blues Project” and “Blood Sweat & Tears” when I was a member of each and Orbison took time off. They were signed to ABC-Paramount back then.. We became good friends and when I played Atlanta as Al Kooper with my band in 1972, they invited us down to hear their just built studio and jam. I fell in love with that studio and also the other bands I heard in town when I spent that week there.

I bought into the studio and had my roadies pack up my apartment in New York City and I never even went back HOME from that trip. I moved to Atlanta in 1972, started my own label (Sounds Of the South) and signed two of the bands I heard in town that week (Lynyrd Skynyrd & Mose Jones) Robert Nix, ARS drummer played on Skynyrd's track "Tuesday's Gone" and Ronnie Hammond and Ronnie Van Zant challenged each other for the same woman on more than one occasion. I played on two ARS albums and they backed me up on one of my solo albums. When I heard he passed away, I hit You Tube to see what he looked and sounded like lately and he had aged pretty well. However only he and the keyboard player remained from the original band and that was sad.

It rang my bell when you quoted "Doraville," cause that's where Studio One of which I was part owner for awhile was. "Free Bird" "Sweet Home Alabama" and "Saturday Night Special" were all cut by that Jacksonville band...... in Doraville. I was told Ronnie wasn't feeling well and went to the doctor's office and promptly died right there.

Give 'em hell up there in Heaven, Ronnie.

Al Kooper

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If you don’t know who AL KOOPER is then you have to KNOW – read his book! But it all started with his training as a HORN PLAYER and when Bob Dylan was recording “Like a Rolling Stone” the keyboard player didn’t show or they just needed some Organ on the track and Al said “sure I can do it” – first RECORDING STUDIO GIG and FIRST TIME to play KEYS on anything and then the tale just goes on for years and years! I’m a HUGE FAN of everything AL KOOPER has ever done!

Steve Moore
MUSIC SQUARE ONE (and) High Cotton Records

MY SPACE & FACEBOOK FAN PAGES for ARTISTS, BANDS, etc.

Well it looks like MY SPACE is in REAL TROUBLE and the decisions they have made in their recent efforts to try and SAVE the company have FAILED MISERABLY!  And Facebook has failed to really grasp what really happens at the GRASSROOTS of the music business which is what they are supposed to be about - helping out up and coming band! 

Music Fan Pages – were at one time was THE exclusive purview of My Space (and they are STILL vying for bands and artist at MY SPACE more so than anything else - but they have just suffered a huge BRAIN DRAIN and lost 50% of their Employees so we'll see how much longer they can last) so FaceBook Fan Pages are going to FILL that GAP in services and hence gain more market share – but even FaceBook is getting IT WRONG!

I’m certainly no expert on how to code such huge endeavors such as My Space or FaceBook but I have been using both for SEVERAL YEARS NOW and I know how I “NEED” to use these services and I know how I “WANT” to use these services and NEITHER My Space or FaceBook are really making it very easy to do….

In regards to My Space, I can say that the NEW INTERFACE is just HOSED – page load times are insanely slow – trying to fix anything on your “pages” is just ridiculous and you can’t customize your HTML CODE like you used to – it’s all hurry up and wait – and HOPE that your changes are accepted before your browser FREEZES.

They are trying to save the company by AD REVENUE and that was at least the SMARTEST THING ZUCKERMAN figured out when FB was first started – it better be COOL before you start pounding people with ADS or you’re doomed for failure! Especially back in mid-2000’s when FREE was really what the internet was about!

My BIGGEST GRIPE with MY SPACE is that IF you want to change your BAND NAME (which you used to could do easily) you’re STUCK – even if you’re going back to a band name that you used to use AND your ORIGINAL ACCOUNT NAME!

In short, if you used to have myspace.com/myoldband and that was your USER NAME – and you switched to myspace.com/mynewband – due to line up changes or for whatever reason and you decide to go BACK to your ORIGINAL user name – and change the name back to myspace.com/myoldband – you’re STUCK – you can’t change a THING!

That means that the YEARS of work you did adding friends or accepting comments, posting songs, etc are just WASTED! – (even if you held out the hope of getting paid via BMI/ASCAP for “PERFOMANCES” – yeah RIGHT!) You won’t see a dime! GREAT BUSINESS MODEL for the songwriters, publisher or OWNERS of the copyrights – yeah, BMI/ASCAP – you guys were behind the ball as well! But seriously, My Space,

what are you thinking? The good folks at MY SPACE have taken a pretty viable entity and just RUINED IT – and that take us to how FaceBook took over and really messed up as well!

It used to be that FaceBook was about adding FRIENDS – well that was GREAT – in fact, you could hook up with old friends from a LONG TIME ago – all was well with the world unless you were being STALKED or contacted by people that you really didn’t want to hear from and there was NOT a blocking tool – but after some REALLY bad things happened with FaceBook users then FB got a wake up call and started to implement MORE privacy controls, blocking features, etc – they STILL have OPPRESIVE if NOT BLATANT copyright and publicity rights violations but again, I digress.

When FaceBook created FAN PAGES – well that was their entrée into getting BANDS to sign up so they could take on MY SPACE – that’s cool – why not? But then BUSINESSES got into the FRAY and everything got pretty much out of control – way too many companies signing up which meant that BAND FAN PAGES fell by the wayside. Why else call them “FAN PAGES?” – Who is REALY a FAN of a “business” or BRAND! Sure you may LIKE that brand but were you a FAN? Hence they changed the game again – and now you have to LIKE a business or a Band. But what really got me is when they MOVED your BAND PROFILE off your “personal page” and made you move it to your BANDS FAN PAGE! Now there goes your up to 5000 friends that can NO LONGER access your music, videos through PAID and/or ROYATLY based applications like REVERBNATION – and spins or views of videos COST NOTHING to the viewers – if they want to BUY your song(s) – well that’s a different story.

But NOW you’ve got to go PANDER to your friends to JOIN your FAN PAGE – not cool! I know I HATE it when I get some really bad band that wants me to become a FAN (or NOW “LIKE” that band) and with the Band Profile being MOVED that also meant that ALL of your “personal friends” had to join your Fan Page just so that you could get “spins” and/or downloads from Reverbnation – hence royalties went from being PRETTY DECENT to NOT SO DECENT unless of course you want to BUG all of your existing friends to JOIN your FAN PAGE – and unless you’re offering some INCENTIVE (coupons for business, or in the case of bands – a FREE something) and that’s insane as BAND/ARISTS and SONGWREITERS already are GIVING AWAY their music basically FOR FREE anyway – how are these young bands supposed to make ANY MONEY much less a living when they are giving away everything for FREE!

I’m all for the bands that want to GIVE AWAY FREE downloads if that’s their business model as they can make money in SO MANY OTHER WAYS – but for those bands that are just getting started even an EXTRA $25 a month is a HUGE HELP – and of course, I think it’s better to give away your CD – IF your fans buy your T-Shirt for a reasonable price! The fan gets a FREE CD – the band gets FREE ADVERTISING when that fan wears the T-Shirt; a pretty good trade off!

But NOW FB no longer allows you to CHANGE your BAND’s PROFILE NAME if you have over 100 LIKES – not sure WHY there’s a 100 “LIKES” cut-off point but a lot of bands need to change their name and NOT have to start COMPLETELY OVER building a fan base on FaceBook Fan Page – so instead of Facebook being a COOL alternative to “MY SPACE” to post your music AND also a way of generating actual REVENUES – you’re STUCK with your ORIGINAL FAN PAGE or you have to START ALL over again and bug your “friends” to LIKE your NEW BAND PAGE. Once again, big business comes into the COOL SCENE and messes it up for EVERYBODY!

I just wish that both of these companies would try to look at things for the ARTISTS and/or BANDS POINT of VIEW and understand that name changes (even trademark issues will come up – case in point – I’m changing my band name BACK to Steve Moore & The New South because FACEBOOK has ALLOWED at least four of five OTHER “Cowboy Killers” use the same name) At least at one time on MY SPACE you couldn’t have the same BAND NAME (or at least USER NAME) on your account so some other band couldn’t cause confusion in the market place as to which band is which! You surely don’t want to buy songs from the WRONG BAND and get inferior music – or music that’s NOT even what you THOUGHT You were buying!

And I certainly don’t want to have to file injunctions in FEDERAL COURT to get these OTHER BANDS to STOP using my band name as I KNOW I was first in time – hence first in right – but FACEBOOK should NOT allow bands to use the same name that’s already been taken! The other option is to take on FACEBOOK in a class action to stop rampant TM infringement – but whomever wants to fight a company with unlimited amounts of MONEY to battle it out in court is going to be losing before they EVEN START! And don’t expect the USPTO or any other organization to help you out – as nobody really cares about the ARTIST anymore- sure they LOVE to listen to music- and they have their favorite bands – but since it’s so accessible and for the most part FREE I doubt any regular fan would even take the time to write a letter to FB to complain or even help out the band that’s haven their name STOLEN on FACEBOOK!

Well that’s enough ranting for today – as now I’ve got all this work to do to create a new FAN PAGE, change all my accounts with Reverbnation, etc, change ALL of the logos, take down ALL of my songs from iTunes – and change EVERYTHING back to the ONE NAME that I KNOW that NOBODY else is USING – in short, I’ve got to START ALL OVER AGAIN - thanks to the NEW policies of My Space and FaceBook!

On behalf of myself and 10’s of thousands of other similarly situated bands, artists, songwriters and publishers – I’d like to say “Thanks FB and MY SPACE!” That’s all we needed was a TON of work lost and a TON of work to get BACK to where we were – which is NOW IMPOSSIBLE!

SM @ MSO

Crowdsourcing - OR Crowd Sourcing

“Crowd Sourcing” was first "coined" by Jeff Howe and was a featured article in Wired Magazine back in 2006 - (which by the way I've been reading WIRED for a LONG TIME!)

Be that as it may, if you have a unique skill set - such as a "graphic designer" or perhaps are an expert at After Effects, Illustrator or even an APP Developer - the list is just too long to mention - this is a GREAT WAY to keep yourself and/or your small business OUT THERE and actively seeking one-off type jobs.

With the new growth in Word From Home Business - and I'm not talking about SCAMS such as MLM or products like Melalueka where you have to have hundreds of people below you actually selling products for you and/or bugging all of your friends and family to "buy these products" - and talk about how GREAT they are and get almost NOTHING in return! What a waste of time and energy – and it kinds of makes you look BOGUS since you’re even CONNECTED with these companies where if you read about them – you’ll get about 1 out of 100 POSTIVE REVIEWS and 99% are all BAD and talk about how big of a SCAM the whole concept is!

Crowd Sourcing is a GREAT WAY to have access to a host of talented people and let's face it - with every facet of the design world - whether is WEBSITES, or Graphics, Branding/Logo design, or just about ANY type of job where you are using specialized applications to do your work in - it's virtually impossible to keep up with EVERY new release and/or UPDATE for these new software apps, or even be able to afford to buy these huge suites such as CS-5 so that you can learn about 3 or 4 of them and maybe if your LUCKY master two or three of them - then CROWD SOURCING is for you!

In today's world, you have to focus on a NICHE - in fact, if you really want to be a HUGELY SUCCESFUL business - you have to focus on a truly different niche - that really should NOT even be SEXY like the MUSIC BUSINESS - as I can assure you tens of thousands are trying to find a NICHE to stay in the music business. Find something that NOBODY else really even wants to do!

In FACT, you've GOT to find something that fewer people are CLAMMERING for to build a new business model! For example: this new venture I'm looking at for New South Development and we are entertaining the idea as we do more and more research - but this new venture is focusing on a NEW and UNIQUE way of "thermal treatment" for solid/liquid waste - yes, it's GREEN, yes, it's GOOD for the environment as the byproducts are Nutrient Rich "ORGANIC" Liquid Fertilizers, a minimal amount of SOLIDS that can be used for "ORGANIC COMPOST" and the best part is that you create Methane (so instead of just burning it off - which is WORSE for the environment --- you can use the methane (similar to Propane) to POWER you treatment operations! But I digress...(more to come with another PRODUCT and BRAND from New South Development)

So just that I'm being clear, IF you are really good at your particular niche - then join the CROWD SOURCING NETWORKS and/or GROUPS- sure you may submit RFP's and/or bids that get turned down - but you're more than likely doing that every day anyway - why not give yourself MORE OPTIONS to be FOUND and HOPEFULLY HIRED for that really good ONE-OFF project and if you're really good at what you do - then the company that finds you through crowd sourcing - could end up hiring you (if even part time) for MORE WORK - and for those that are struggling to KEEP themselves busy with new projects, finding new clients, etc - this is THE BEST WAY to get your name into the POOL of others that are offering similar or the same types of services.

And how does this work for Musicians, Producers, etc - well there's plenty of people that need back ground music or mastering work done or a HOST of other products/services that YOU can do and/or create - but also don't think of it as just about getting YOUR music or work out there for the masses - also think of it as a way to get your Album Cover Art, Your band Logo, your EPK or any number of things you need to get done to further your career- use the CROWD to get the BEST DEAL on what you need by having people BID ON YOUR NEEDS!

In this down economy and with it being a "business hiring" dream - as people will take a job for next to nothing - at least you don't have to look for a FULL TIME GIG - you can work from HOME legitimately AND if you work with the RIGHT "CROUDSOURCING" GROUPS - you could end up landing a really GREAT PROJECT to add to your PORTFOLIO and in the PROCESS get that exposure that you need to get MORE work and BETTER TYPES of work that are best suited to HOW YOU WORK and WHAT YOU CAN DO! Especially if you have a UNIQUE SKILL or are REALLY GOOD at YOUR NICHE!

Just some random thoughts again as I was cleaning out some old articles and magazines and taking them for RECYCLING - so I figured I "RECYCLE" this information!

SM @ MSO