A bit of interaction goes a long way

This started life as an appreciation of a musician I like and follow, but turned into a business blog, so while it is posted here, it's true home is my Linkedin platform.

Back in 2001 I read and occasionally contributed to an email newsletter called The Armada, basically about the band Asia but drifting into other related artists. I commented on a then new album called Ceremony of Innocence by Radioactive. A few days later I got an email from the album's creator Tommy Denander thanking me for my comments and after a brief exchange of emails that was it. Or so I thought...

Having seen his name appear on albums regularly I did make an effort to look out for him, as he seemed to be a stamp of quality on a rock album. The recently re-released Rainmaker album is a good place to start. In a slightly surreal moment he also popped up on an album by Big Time Rush, a TV show boy band loved by my then 12 year old daughter and her friends.

Tommy is typical of the way the music industry works in the 21st Century. His Wikipedia entry, which I assume to be largely accurate, gives hundreds of albums he has played on, written, or produced. It's an impressive list, and crosses all sorts of genres, which is what you need to do to make a living in music these days. However it's clear his heart is in rock, projects with his own name on them, Radioactive and as an integral part of work by House Of Lords, Robin Beck, Houston and many others in the Hard Rock/AOR world. These names may not mean much to you but in the rest of Europe, particularly Scandanavia, this genre is huge, and Tommy is one of the leading lights.

The interesting part of looking at Tommy's website and social media are the parallels between the way he manages his business, and it is a business with all the requirements to feed and house his family that the rest of us have, and the way pretty much any other business owner will operate. OK so we aren't working with Deep Purple and Alice Cooper, but the networking required to secure that work, presumably through producer Bob Ezrin is the same process that I go through at an FSB or 4Networking meeting. Interestingly we are second connections on Linkedin as well, (happy to help you make a bit more of your Linkedin Tommy!). The basic rules of networking work in pretty much any arena, and as I am looking at new avenues for my own efforts it is a timely lesson. We all get a bit jaded by the formulaic approach of many business networks, but it works, at least it does for me and Tommy. So, get out there and talk to people, on Linkedin, in the queue at the bank, any venue that business people gather, you never know where the next opportunity is going to come from.

Recently he started a new line called Platinum Demo's Worldwide, offering professional quality demo's for €250. As, from reading his social media, he has a young daughter he clearly wants to work from home more, this is a cracking way of doing that, with potential to root out new talent that can be presented to his contacts in the biz, as well as making money on the actual demos themselves. Oddly as my venture in Marketing 4 Music gathers pace I could see myself using his service, in fact I have a client just now...

To learn more about Tommy Denander's music start here

Radioactive - Ceremony Of Innocence and F4UR
Sayit - Again
Alice Cooper - Paranormal
Deep Purple - Infinite
Frederiksen/Denander - Baptism By Fire

Jeremy Hardy

Last week I was listening to The News Quiz and wondering why I hadn't heard Jeremy Hardy for a while and wondering if he had been politically corrected out. Yesterday came the news of his passing.

I try to only write obituaries for people who are especially important to me and occupy a fair bit of space on my iPod. Jeremy Hardy qualifies on both counts. I started listening to I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue in the early 80s, but it gained a fresh lease of life when a new generation of panelists joined following Willie Rushton's death. Jeremy was the one who established himself as the nearest thing to a regular, the dreadful singing was what he came to be known for, but his contribution was much wider than that and he very rarely brought his politics to the show, making the occasion of his appearance on Just a Minute using the Royal Family for the subject "parasites" clearly a deliberate grenade, as he always respected the format of ISIHAC and didn't use it as a platform. Unlike the News Quiz where his "rants" were often aimed at topics inspired by his views. They were however always funny whether you shared his views or not. The "Jeremy Hardy Speaks To The Nation" series on Radio 4 could be variable in quality but the best are magical. I saw him perform stand up at Edinburgh some years ago and as part of the ISIHAC live show in Bristol more recently.

To focus on his politics is to miss the point of his humour, the dry self deprecating wit which acknowledged his background, and looked to highlight the absurdities of our lives. He was of his generation, only 2 years older than me, and the shared "growing up" space is what speaks to me at least. The fact that his passing has drawn such genuine mourning from his own profession, visit Mark Steel's Twitter for a flavour, says all there is to be said about his qualities as a man. Even the Daily Mail has reported his loss as straight news, which I'm sure would have amused him.

Mark Steel's obituary in The Independent is HERE

His interview with another friend Jack Dee on Radio 4's Chain Reaction is HERE.