What if the Beatles NEVER existed??

What do you think music would be like if the Beatles never existed? What if Elvis, Elton John, Billy Joel, Madonna, Taylor Swift or [Insert Your Favorite Artist] never wrote or sang a single song? What if most of the artists you grew up listening while growing up never played a note?? Can you imagine never hearing those songs that meant so much to you? Can you imagine what living in a world without all the music we've ever loved would be like?? Well neither can we!!

Most of the musical history we love and cherish so much was created by people whose very first experience learning to play an instrument or sing was in school. I believe our entire musical history past, present and future depends on continuing to keep music alive in our schools and communities. We need to keep as much music and arts education in our schools as possible. If we fail to do so, then the quality of new music we hear will diminish over time as young creative minds are no longer nurtured and encouraged to create.

As part of our “Keep Music Alive” mission, we are publishing a book on May 1st entitled “88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life”. We are searching for inspirational music stories, anecdotes and quotes to include, and I was wondering if you might have a story or quote you’d like to share with the world? Our goal for “Keep Music Alive” is to raise the awareness of how important music is in all of our lives: educationally, therapeutically and our overall happiness. The book “88+ Ways” will help us spread this message with inspirational stories & quotes, highlights of recent research demonstrating the importance of music education plus tips for schools and communities trying to save or improve their music programs.

"88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life"

Here are some questions that may give you some ideas for a quote or story:

• Did music help get you through a difficult time in your life?
• As a musician/performer or audience member, did you witness a particular touching situation involving music?
• Was there a particular song, or artist, that strongly resonated and influencing you while growing up?
• Was a there a person in your life who influenced you with their music?
• Did you learn to play an instrument or take part in your school's band or chorus and how did this experience affect you?
• Was music used to help you during a type of therapy, either to motivate you or to "just get you through it"?

When you look back now, how do you think your life is different, or has changed, because of music?

For more information on the book and story submissions please visit www.lovesongs.com/keepmusicalive or simply visit LoveSongs.com and click on “Keep Music Alive”. Our story submission deadline is Feb 28th, 2015 so still plenty of time to have your musical story included in "88+ Ways Music Can Change Your Life".

Please also LIKE our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/keepmusicalivemission and if you have questions about the book or mission you can email us at MusicStories (at) LoveSongs.com.

We hope you all have a great weekend and we'll be back on Sunday with another pppppost!

Music, Love & Happiness

Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

Taylor Swift says "Shake it Off" but I just can't do it!

If you haven't noticed already, Taylor Swift's new song "Shake It Off" has been inescapable - Every where I turn the song is being played again and again. I first heard it when my daughter was listening to it, and I was like "is that Taylor Swift's new song? Don't tell me you actually LIKE that song!" I asked her. Now before all you Taylor Swift fans get up and protest, I have been a big Taylor Swift supporter for years, simply for the fact she has come out with a multitude of really great pop tunes. There was "Teardrops on my Guitar", "Our Song", "Should've Said No", "Love Story", "You Belong With Me", "I Knew You Were Trouble" and I probably missed a few. Whether or not she wrote or co-wrote all of these songs I don't know, but I do know that she has remained a star all these years because she consistently released quality songs (if your a pop song fan you can't deny this!).

When I first heard "Shake it Off", it immediately struck me as the type of song that a new artist would NEVER get radio to play let alone put it in rotation. It's a great idea for a song, but the melodies are just second rate at best. Does anybody remember what a "B" side is? That's the flip side to the "A" side on an old 45 vinyl single and its the "A" side that's the hit. I'm afraid to say that "Shake it Off" in my opinion is definitely a "B" side. Tonight I forced myself to listen again, just trying to be as objective as I could and the result was the same. Good beat, great lyrical concept, but melodies, melodies melodies need some work. Oh well I tried :) If you haven't heard this yet (probably not possible :)) please take a listen yourself here and let me know your thoughts:

I also came across a good article explaining why "Shake it Off" is such a big hit (and just how big a hit it is already after less than two weeks). I can't argue with the logic they present: "Shake if Off" is a huge hit simply because Taylor Swift is probably the biggest pop star on the planet right now. I can only hope that she has more pop gems in her pocket to share with us, because this phenomena won't last forever unless she can bring some of that magic back. Here's a link to the article Slate Magazine - How "Shake it Off" became a HUGE hit!

Before I go today I'll leave you with one of my favorite Taylor Swift songs called "You Belong with Me" - no doubt about it its just a great song and deserved every bit of the attention it got!

Today is new Blog Day #2 - Stop back tomorrow when we try to make it Blog Day #3 - Getting back up on the horse and riding again is funnn!

Music, Love & Happiness,

Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

Taylor Swift proclaims the Music Industry is alive and well??

An op-ed opinion article written by Taylor Swift and published by the Wall Street Journal this week proclaims that the music industry is in fact not dying. Instead she believes that the business of selling music is actually thriving, which pretty much goes against what has become common knowledge to the rest of the planet. Now I'm not saying Taylor Swift is completely wrong here, but I'm betting she's a much better songwriter and artist then she is a predictor of our musical future.

One of the main points of the article is that she believes music has value, and that artists should recognize that value and "ask" for it in the marketplace instead of giving (or almost giving) the music away. Unfortunatly this is like expecting something to be a certain way just because you want it to be. I'm a firm believer of positive affirmation but it will only get you so far in the real world. The reality is and always has been that the marketplace, the consumers (ie. you and I) will always be the deciding factor as to how goods are purchased and consumed. People want convenience and cheap so they have already voted wholeheartedly that music streaming is what they want.

Now Ms. Swift makes many valid points in her article, one where she talks about how artists need to be more inventive both when recording and creating live shows in order to hold the attention of their audience. She also makes the comment that she is almost never ever asked for an autograph any more. Can you imagine meeting Taylor Swift and not asking for an autograph?? Well since the "selfie" picture has taken over consumers have jumped to this as their preferred way of remembering their personal encounter with an artist. Besides, who wants a scribbled signature when you can have an everlasting image of you with the star :)

Despite not agreeing with some of her points, her article is definitely an interesting read and I'd recommend you check it out here: Wall Street Journal: Taylor Swift and the Future of Music.

What actually caught my eye first was this very good response to Taylor's Op-Ed piece by Nilay Patel at www.vox.com VOX: Taylor Swift doesn't understand supply and demand . He makes some excellent points and backs up with data that really drives the points home.

One of Taylor's early hits and one of my favorites "You Belong To Me" in 2009. Listening back to again now and I still think its a great pop song which will always win me over as a fan. Note this video has been viewed over 321 million times since its release - pretty amazing for a 3 minute pop song.

That's all for today kiddies - be back tomorrow with some more musical nuggets for you!

Music, Love & Laughter,

Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

p.s. KEEP MUSIC ALIVE Day #8 - Please visit our first post from Tuesday July 1st for more information about our mission

Fridays Featured Song - "Our Song" by Taylor Swift

I first heard this song a year or so ago and thought wow this is a really cool uptempo pop song I wonder who sings it. This was of course before Taylor Swift had become absolutely huge on both both pop and country radio. "Our Song" was the 3rd single off her debut CD "Taylor Swift" from 2006 (when she was like 17 years old) and went to #1 on the Country chart and #16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart...this is before "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" off her 2008 "Fearless" CD that is still hotter than ever. Also on her debut was another really good song "Teardrops on my Guitar" (my daughter just loves that song). Altogether Taylor has sold over 9 Million copies of her first two CDs in the US alone and holds the record (24 million) for the most digital tracks sold by any artist ever. Pretty heady stuff for someone who just recently turned 20 (think its too late for me to adopt her?? ha ha). Well "Our Song" was my first introduction to Taylor Swift and its as catchy as any uptempo pop ditty there is. If you haven't heard it recently or at all check it out along with the video here:

"Our Song" by Taylor Swift (YouTube)

New Free Austrailian Music Streaming Website launches March 30th

There's a new free music streaming site called Guvera coming online March 30th from the land down under. It will be ad-supported but instead of having the ads delay the music the webpages will be branded with an advertiser thats suited for that particular style of music. So you'll see the ads but won't have to wait to hear the music you want to hear. For more info on the beta launch coming next month check out this article on Wired.com

That's all for Friday fellow music lovers - I'll be back tomorrow with another post and perhaps another song post - We'll have a flashback weekend favorite coming right at ya!

~Vincent James @ LoveSongs.com

Saturday's Pick - "Black and Blue" by Jim Boggia

Several years back I had the good fortune of meeting (and even opening for)an up and coming singer-songwriter named Jim Boggia from the Philadelphia area. By up and coming I mean he was way past my level already :) Jim is possibly the most expressive performer I've ever seen on stage...as his songs and stories seem to come to life with every note he plays and sings. I also remember being amazed at how many great songs Jim brought to the table..."Several Thousand", "BubbleGum 45s", and even a beauty called "Peter Pan" about the joys and pitfalls of never having to grow up. Perhaps my favorite is a song called "Black and Blue" - a great mid-tempo pop number that tells the story of a songwriter-songwriter relationship that was brought to life in song itself when things went bad. The lyrics and music speak to the listener on a strong emotional level from beginning to end. I invite you to listen to Jim's song "Black and Blue" and check out many of his other cool songs you can find online:

"Black and Blue" - YouTube

An American Idol tidbit...In addition to being a very successful solo performer, Jim has also played in backup bands for many folks over the years and one fairly recent stint was for American Idol finalist Constantine Maroulis. If you search you can also hear Constantine covering Jim's tune "Several Thousand"

Grammy Weekend - more parties and fun

The Grammy's are tomorrow night with many of the events and festivities being held all weekend. One party honored Neil Young as Musicares person of the year for all his philanthropic efforts over the years. You can read about it here plus items on Taylor Swift and Tina Campbell from gospel duo Mary, Mary

Pre-Grammy Party News


That's all for Saturday folks - its snowly slightly in Philly and cccccold. Hope you are keeping warm in your part of the woods...we'll be back tomorrow with a Sunday Song Flashback!

~Vincent

Friday's Fun - "You Belong With Me" by Taylor Swift

Well Taylor Swift has had quite a career so far with her latest CD "Fearless" spending 11 weeks at #1 and her total US Album sales alone over 9 Million (can you say ka'ching :)). She's even bigger on the internet having sold over 24 Million tracks. I can personally think of at least 5 Taylor Swift songs from the last few years that I really liked. They include "Our Song", "Love Story", "Teardrops on my Guitar", even "Fifteen" has grown on me quite a bit...but "You Belong with Me" is a gem that any pop writer would be proud to have written it. Tells the simple love triangle story with one person being the odd-girl out. Taylor's up for at least 8 Grammy Award's this weekend and I for one am hoping she wins a few (not all of them.. lets leave some for the other talented folks). To see and hear "You Belong to Me" check it out here:

"You Belong With Me" - YouTube

Grammy Weekend is Here

The 52nd Grammy Awards is here this Sunday Night - lots of great artists will be performing and taking home trophies. Michael Jackson will receive a posthumous Lifetime achievement award and his two eldest children Paris and Prince Michael will accept the award on Michael's behalf. I have to say, a musical world without Michael Jackson is pretty strange..I still don't think I realize he's really gone. He led a strange life but what an incredible entertainer - the most talented ever bar none in my opinion. To see a list of the Grammy nominee's for this Sundays telecast get it straight from the Grammy website at http://www.grammy.com/nominees

Friday is almost done folks - Hope you had a nice week and looking forward to a great weekend. We'll be back later tomorrow with another post and one of our favorite Indie love songs!

~Vincent