BBC Music releases one of the coolest cover songs ever!

The BBC, one of the most well known and trusted sources for news and information, has jumped into the music business with BBC Music, and to celebrate they have created one amazing rendition of "God Only Knows" by the Beach Boys. With proceeds going to the BBC's Children in Need charity, the song features an amazing cast of artists including Sir Elton John, Pharrell Williams, One Direction, Lordes, Sam Smith, Kylie Minogue PLUS Brian May from Queen rockin' the guitar. They were joined of course by the legendary songwriter and Beach Boy himself, Brian Wilson who appears twice briefly during the entertaining 3 minute video.

The recording and video feature 27 different artists and is backed up by the 80 piece BBC Orchestra. The artists participating range from pop to rock, and classical to opera (yes opera!) - together they've created a very heart-warming rendition of the Beach Boys classic.

Here's a link to the Forbes article where I first discovered this: Elton-John-Lorde-Pharrell-and-more-help-launch-BBC-Music-initiative-with-Amazing-Beach-Boys-Cover-Video

The Guardian takes it one step further by giving us the lowdown of exactly who is in the video and when plus giving us their performance rating of each performer (does this now count as an Olympic charity single since we have scores or maybe at least a shot on The Voice or American Idol :)). The Guardian - BBC-God-Only-Knows-Cover-Every-Performance-Reviewed-and-Rated

And now for the video itself, check it out and see if you don't agree its one of the coolest cover songs and videos you've ever seen:

That wraps it up for today kiddies - I'll be back soon with another post as soon as I dig myself out of my "to do" pile of fun sitting on my desk :) Have a great day and be sure to play some extra music tooooday!

Music, Love & Laughter,

Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

Let Your Kids Study Music - says Forbes!

The folks who write for and read Forbes Magazine generally know a thing or two about succeeding in our highly competitive world, and a recent Forbes article trumpets the cause of allowing, wait, encouraging kids to study music. We're not talking just having kids play music while they are growing up, but encouraging them to study music in college say instead of generally more preferred careers like engineering, computer science, math and other STEM subjects.

The article talks about how we really need to let our kids follow their own path and if that path happens to be music then absolutely encourage them. A little known fact is that many kids that go to school for music eventually end up in other highly successful careers like lawyers, doctors, scientists and more. It's very interesting, because most of us myself included always thought that going to school for music meant a lifetime of either teaching music or trying to scratch out a living as a touring musician living forever on the road. It turns out that many of these kids going to college for music are also some of the smartest and motivated kids there. After their well-rounded 4 years of liberal arts education, many go on to advanced degrees or sometimes end up in highly sought after positions in business and banking. This realization definitely aligns with what I have always said. It doesn't matter where you go to school or often even what you go to school for. It's what you know, what you're willing to learn and your ability to network and strive to be better that will be the ultimately be the deciding factor in your success.

I have to say this article caught my attention because it brought me back a few decades to when I was deciding where I wanted to go to college and for what major. I had my heart and mind set on going to West Chester University to study music, however the folks at home gently swayed me toward what they thought was a more practical course: engineering. At this point I would never go back and change the path I took, simply because it gave me the interactions and ultimately the beautiful family that I have today (although incidentally I met my beautiful wife through music many years after college). I do however occasionally ponder for just a moment what my life would have been like if I had gone to college for music instead of engineering. We'll never know, but what I do know is that for my children I will absolutely encourage them to follow their dream path whatever it may be. Follow your passion with all of your heart, might and soul and see where it leads.

Here's a link to this very interesting and informative article by writer Liz Ryan for Forbes Magazine:

Let the Kid Study Music, Already! Forbes Magazine

I'll leave you with this picture of an incredible piano & violin shaped building in China - apparently you enter the main piano shaped building via an elevator in the violin. Boy would I love to visit this place :)

Have a great day everyone and stop back tomorrow for another post - yep I'm gonna try and go for two in a row!!

Music, Love & Laughter,

Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

p.s. LoveSongs.com is looking for YOUR Music Story - "How Has Music Changed YOUR Life??" - For more information please visit www.LoveSongs.com/keepmusicalive

Will the VOICE find its VOICE with its Season 6 Winner?

I have to confess, I have never watched an episode of The Voice which is now in its 6th season after debuting in the spring of 2011. I'm sure there have been numerous great singers performing on the show, most more talented then yours truly. I also must confess that I haven't watched American Idol for the last few seasons either. We all enjoyed Simon Cowells below the belt (but funny as all) comments to the contestants and the bickering between Paula Abdul and Simon. But what really peaked my interest was that Winners for the first several American Idol seasons would start releasing top quality songs on their recordings. Not songs that would be often hard pressed to be released as B-sides on a single back in the day (anybody remember B-sides?). In my opinion, the primary reason the Idol winners (and often 1st, 2nd and 3rd runner up contestants) were successful with radio and record sales was the quality of the songs.

It has been said by many, that "it all starts with a song" and they aren't kidding. If you don't have a great song you're not going to make a star out of anyone. Too many times songs are selected for these artists because of "who wrote the song", "who controls the song", translation: "who stands to gain money IF the song is a hit". Well I'm here to tell you that if you release a crappy song it isn't going to be a hit and there isn't going to be much money to be had :)

If I could give one piece of advice (as if they are listening) to the producers of future Idol and Voice winners it would be simply be: Find the absolute best songs you can that fits your artist and go with that song regardless of who wrote the song or who owns the publishing. Heck take an old song and re-work and have the artist make it their own - its no secret that some of the best songs ever written were not written recently. OR maybe the next time Adam Levine and his Maroon 5 band mates come up with another song like "Pay Phone", "Love Somebody" or "Daylight" he'll decide to let the Voice Winner take this song to the bank AND finally answer the question: "Will The Voice ever produce a star"?

Inside TV has some insightful information on this same topic here: The Voice vs. American Idol

In this article, Forbes magazine tells us last year the top earning American idol winners and Alumni - I think its possible to say that each of these 12 folks on the list have earned more than all of The Voice winners combined: Top 12 American Idol alumni earnings from 2013

Here's the gal that started it all winning "American Idol" season 1 - Kelly Clarkson singing "A Moment Like This" - the first of many great song released by Kelly since her 2002 debut:

Okay that's my soapbox for now - the reason for today's rant is that I realized I couldn't find a new song that I really liked enough to write about. Recently I've written about "Human", "Say Something", "Story of My Life", "Pompeii", "Happy" and "All of Me" - and each of these songs are STILL on the charts because they are THAT good. I'm sure there is something new out there I will really love but I just haven't heard it yet. Stay tuned I'll be looking and listening :) You can always tell me your favorite new song by voting on our "Love Song" poll at Vote for Favorite Love Song or post on our Facebook page at LoveSongs.com on Facebook

Music, Love & Laughter,

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

Are YOU Looking for new Music & POMPEI is growing!

A recent article in Forbes magazine (yes a music article in Forbes :)) says that music services like Pandora and Spotify are wasting their time trying to recommend new music to us. The thinking is that deep down inside, we as listeners actually want to hear more of what we already like instead of hearing something altogether new. There is definitely something to this, as that's why artists often record "cover" songs from earlier artists - it's that familiar song that gives the new artist a chance to be heard in a crowded market. You can also probably remember times when you first heard a new song and didn't initially like it very much. But then after radio played the song to death it started to grow you on and "suddenly" you were a big fan. I have definitely had this happen to me on more than one occasion.

Here's the article that tells us exactly what this phenomenon is all about:

"Pandora & Spotify wasting their time recommending new Music"

A classic example of this is "Pompeii" by Bastille - When many of first heard "Pompeii" by Bastille we were like ehhhhh its okay. But after hearing it time and time again, that chanting in the beginning and throughout the song really really started to grow on us - And then we started really listening to the lyrics and tuning into the melody and all of a sudden we're hooked. So the lesson is - if you hear a new song and aren't a big fan - give it a chance. If after a half-dozen listens you still don't like it then definitely time to move on :)

Bastille is UK-based band fronted by singer/songwriter Dan Smith and they hit Top 5 in the US with this track and have sold over 2 Million albums in the UK alone.

"But if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
Nothing changed at all?
And if you close your eyes,
Does it almost feel like
You've been here before?

That's all for tooooday folks - Have a great weekend and we'll be back to you on Monday with more fun'n'music to go!

Peace, Love & Laughter,

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

Happy New Year 2014!

Yes I know about 10 days late to the party, but I had some very important errands to attend to :) Seriously though, there is so much commotion on Jan 1st, I sometimes like to wait a week or so till that dies down before I express my love for the New Year. Also just in case the new year is not going so well I could just choose to skip the year altogether.

The Death of Digital downloads - But WAIT there's more!

Everybody's saying it...we were finally hooked on the concept of owning our music digitally when digital download sales dropped in 2013 for the very first time (6% down). Before we get too upset it seems the lack of digital music sales has been offset by a 32 percent increase in digital music streaming. Trouble is of course, artists and songwriters make a lot less from a song streamed then digital sale. But a song can be streamed over and over again (from your phone, tablet, computer, car?) and if there is advertising or other money supporting that stream then its a good thing for the music industry. I think its way too early to tell how this is really gone turn out, but for my sake and millions of other musicians on the planet I hope there will also be a way to compensate musicians and songwriters for the art and craft.

Here's a few recent articles from Rolling Stone, Variety and Forbes magainine alll discussing the download/streaming changeover:

Rolling Stone - Digital-music-takes-a-dive-as-record-sales-slip-again-in-2013

Variety - Music-in-2013-purchases-down-6-timberlake-tops-album-sales

Forbes - The-music-industry-moves-kicking-and-screaming-into-a-streaming-world

Tune into Space Radio - Music from the Moon

You might think I'm making this up folks but I'm not and it's pretty cool. You can tune into Crater radio and literally hear the sounds of space interpreted by music. It takes data fro From NPR: "The CRaTER streaming radio station essentially gives a weather report by playing samples of instruments in various keys and pitches, interpreting conditions in space by a set of established rules. The musical instruments range from a piano to a banjo. The raw data comes from six different detectors on the spacecraft — so in a sense, it's like hearing a musical sextet from space." For the full article and to learn how to tune in click on the link below. I'm listening now and it's pretty interesting that's for sure.

NPR - Space-music-how-to-hear-solar-flares-from-the-moon

Well that's all for today kiddies - we'll be back to you next week with another edition of the love songs blog with some new and interesting music news for you.

Music, Love & Laughter

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com