100,000 Of 'Kitchen Sessions' Most Recent Video: Jessie J Domino

Online, September 28, 2011 (Newswire.com) - Myself and band 'Ashton Lane' have been working as musicians for a number of years now, both in the live circuit and
attemping various online activities. Interestingly though the most successfull thing we have done is something that started
recently called 'The Kitchen Sessions'. I think we have always felt in the music industry that we have to create an illusion for
people to buy into that sells the product. The Kitchen Sessions however is a very different tact. Since starting 2 weeks ago we have had over 100,000 views of our Kitchen sessions videos and more interest and interaction that any of our previous promotional activies online have managed.
It is what it says on the tin. Every Tuesday myself and band members perform a totally live track from round our kitchen table and the response has been incredible. It is what we do anyway and I think there is something about the integration and genuineness of what people feel they are being brought into that has generated the response.
The latest song in the series is Jessie J Domino
We took this song and gave it our own treatment
You can check it out here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnQKnNuHmlA

As well as creating an appealing enviroment and feel that encourages folk to share, there is also the challenge of the song choice. It's an ever changing landscape for the independent musician or label (or for the majors for that matter)
Cover songs have become crucial in the marketing plan of any savvy indie musician and here's why...

It was a few months ago that I first heard of the band Pomplamoose doing their version of the Lady Gaga song telephone.
They had a massive 'hit' (or lots of 'hits'... 7 million plus in fact) on youtube. While in one way they are flying the flag for the indie route, in another way what they are doing is obviously piggybacking on the millions of pounds that the major labels are spending creating the global demand for that song. (And quite right too!)

In any case, it must be part of the indie musician's artillery for their promotional plans online.

The issue for musicians is this... Finding a popular song that is being currently searched for and tweeted is important, but it also has to be something that works as a calling card for the band. When you first encounter a band or act, it does help to hear a song you are already familiar with to hook you in, but it has to be done well. If it's just bad acoustic karaoke then the band might as well save the energy.

It needs to be creative, unique and most importantly a showcase of the bands 'sound' whatever that might be. Pomplamoose, did this really well with the Lady Gaga Telephone cover, and I have seen other bands do this really well too. One of our recent attempts at this was doing a country pop version of Jessie J Domino. We took the Jessie J Domino from high energy pop R&B track and gave it a country guitar and vocal arrangement.
You can check it out what we did to it here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnQKnNuHmlA

Cover songs are a crucial part of today's online music marketing, but it need not be seen as a 'sell out'. It can be almost as much of a creative challenge to reinterpret someone else's song (and to do it well) as it is to write your own material from scratch. It requires imagination and creativity to hear how you can make a song your own and that is the challenge. Of course the real crunch comes once when you do follow up with your own material that you not only continue to keep interest but at that point really make a true fan out of a casual listener because of the quality of the original material.