Return of the Something Fierce, or, November 13th 2012

09/26/2012 at 6:57 am | Posted in How to this-or-that, Music, News & Explanations | 12 Comments
Tags: album release, american songwriter, aol, diy, green light go, indie, indie music, mad mackerel, marian-call, Music, new album, npr, paste, something fierce, songwriter, spinner, vocalist, world cafe

November 13th, 2012 #somethingfierce

This blog is for those of you who are already fans of mine, as we’ll go behind the scenes a bit:

Gather ’round, O Best Beloved, because I have something very important to tell you.  This is kind big news in the Marian Callisphere, and it involves both a game and a party.

So!  Last October I self-published a double album called Something Fierce. I worked on it for years, and I’m proud of it and it’s awesome.  And because it’s sort of my magnum opus to date, I decided to push it out of the nest.

We’re gonna try for some bigger press now thru November.  You guys have said for years: “Get on All Songs Considered Marian!  Get on World Cafe!  Get on Mountain Stage!  Get in Paste and Spin!”  This is how we try, and you are all the gatekeeper and the keymaster.

Something Fierce has a new global RELEASE DATE.*

November 13th, 2012 #somethingfierce

And you’re invited.  We’ve already put out two singles.  Here’s where you come in, O Most Beloved.

You guys ask me all the time how we can get to NPR-Paste-etc.  We now have a way.  And it really ALOTALOT depends on you.  I’ve told the press that you, the fans, are super engaged, and now I need you to prove me truthy and not lieful.**  When a music publication, big or small, posts about an artist, how do we tell them we want more of this artist in the press?

FEEDBACK.

I mean comments, mostly, and referring to articles in other articles.  Say you’re a little music blog, and you post a song by an unknown artist every day, and mostly you get a few hundred hits, but suddenly hordes of people visit & comment on & share an artist’s page for a day.  How would you think about that post and that artist?  You’d think you struck gold.  And what would other music bloggers think?  That they’d better not miss the bandwagon and be late.  And what will big media outlets think when that artist crosses their desk and they’re deciding who to review?

Let’s make them think it.  Let’s DO THIS!

I am going Adventure Questing in Europe next month, but wherever you are in the world, I invite you to go Adventure Questing with me.  No money required; these are riddles and puzzles to solve, small tasks to complete, a little Golden Fleece journey for you that will hopefully create a little buzz.

November 13th, 2012 #somethingfierce

• is when my album drops again. This just became a list, poof.
• Starting November 1st, I will be issuing you one task per day for 13 days on Twitter and at MarianCallAdventureQuest.com.***
• Your task might be to post a comment on an article in haiku, or to draw a doodle of a lyric and post it hashtagged on Twitter, or to write a comment where each word starts with the letters of the last word in the before you (remember our limerick contest guys? Peter Sagal announced the results).  They will be small internet tasks, little 2-minute treasure chests and dungeon crawls, and will involve lots of Us Guys rewarding media outlets that feature the record.****
• If you complete every Adventure Quest task by November 13th and send me screencaps by email, you will be entered to win some sincerely excellent and very real prizes, digital and physical, with shipping anywhere in the world.
• Yes, you can do them all on the last day if you want, Procrastinatey McJones.  It doesn’t matter if you’re right on the nose with your dates.  Just finish before midnight on the 13th Hawaii time to be part of the crew.

November 13th, 2012 #somethingfierce

Is the date sticking for you yet?  I will spend my morning in Amsterdam and my afternoon/evening in Dublin, and guys, we are going to HAVE A PARRTY!  By which I mean GOOGLE HANGOUT AND TWITTER PARTY!  I’d like to invite you to have brunch with me in Amsterdam, then pub fare and Guinness or Killian’s or Harper with me in Dublin, no matter what your time zone.  When I’m not flying, I will be online several times through the day talking with you guys, answering any and every question, doing goofy things on camera, potentially drinking a little too much, and celebrating this awesome record that ate several years of my life.  I will try to get some special guests to join our Hangout and say hi, I will draw prize winners, and I will definitely sing for you in public places which will probably be embarrassing.

You guys, American Songwriter has already agreed to feature the album on their site all day on NOVEMBER 13TH, and so has AOL/Spinner.  OMG OMG OMG.  We released two singles to the media to promote, and for some reason “Dear Mister Darcy” is taking off at over 3000 downloads; we can’t even figure out why.  We will get more media on the hook if we can only deliver the audience.  With building momentum World Cafe and Paste and NPR might be someday be within reach. THIS IS BIG.

But only you can make it happen.  So join me Adventure Questing if you wish!  For all those times you guys have told me to get on NPR, now you have the power to Make It So!

November 13th, 2012 #somethingfierce

Do you want to do something now?  Here are further action items if you want them.  But only if you want them.  I don’t expect this sort of involvement, I’m grateful for you guys beyond belief;  but I do want to focus those of you who have asked to help.

• Go download a track here and leave a comment: http://madmackerel.org/2012/09/11/marian-call-readies-something-fierce-for-release/. They’re free on purpose.  If you already have the music, send the track to a friend — surprise them.  Send the link to this article to a local radio station or DJ.
• Here are some articles that need some love. Comment or share real quick, and I dare you to do it in Subtle Haiku (no line breaks, but a clear haiku structure that other readers will recognize): post 1 post 2 post 3 post 4. Tweet me links or send me screencaps if you want to show off your handiwork!
• If you have a blog, write a teeny review of your favorite song or concert experience.  Include a link to the blog above, or some other blog, since that really helps.  If you don’t know what to say, just post lyrics and then tell a nice story that seems tangentially related, like this.
• If you posted a blog about me ages ago, circulate the link one more time now, or post a follow-up, gloating that you were in on the ground floor of something awesome.  Tell everyone you were right.
• Comment on iTunes or Amazon or listen on Spotify, which shows up on Facebook. (Note that my preferred listening/purchase link to actually benefit me is Bandcamp.)
• If you are allowed to play music where you work, spin the album a couple times before November 13th. Tell people you are cool enough to have gotten this record before the global release because you’re that hip to new music.  You don’t need it with you, you can just listen online. (Don’t annoy anyone please.)
• Pester your local DJ — most can play the music from the web now, so bother them with the link and say the album’s coming out soon.  And hey, pester your local weekly paper’s music reviewer, and your local NPR affiliate too, along with the national tastemaker stations (KUT, KEXP, KCRW, WGBH, WBUR, WHYY, WNYC and more).  If you need a press release for singles 1 and 2 or a bio, we have them.
• I could use a little web help November 1st-14th, because obviously I will be running around Europe when I need to be posting stuff and answering questions.  If you’re interested, e-mail admin@mariancall.com with the subject line “Adventure Quest-keteer.”

Any volunteer work that you feel like doing, I will equip you for.  Any questions you have, I will answer.  A few answers from the asterisks above are below.

I owe all of this to you guys, and that’s why I work so hard and run so fast.  I want to do my best for you, and I want to do the most for you.  I am excited to see all of you I can see in the Northeast of the US, the Southeast of Canada, and Europe.  And I’m super super super excited to raise a Guinness to all of you on — what date?

NOVEMBER 13TH 2012!!!

#somethingfierce

*********

*Why release your album again? This is very normal for indie albums actually, in part because media outlets have almost no interest in reviewing an artist unless a Big Album Release is coming up.  So I have an awesome publicist, and they’re trying to get some media attention, so the Big Album Release is coming up!

**We are pitching me to media outlets as a social media musician with an engaged fanbase. So woe is me if my fanbase stays silent when Paste finally gives me an article. We have to prove that my press releases are true!  Mostly I don’t post articles about me (it’s rude) but for the next little while I’ll need to, and I’ll be hoping and wishing you guys will show them you’re listening.

***That site is not ready yet. Sorry. I was getting this site ready. November 13th.

****I promised you once, after my first Shortys encounter, and I’d like to reaffirm my promise:  I will never ever ask you to “vote for me” in any sort of internet competition. I have some dignity at least.