What's Out Next

December 05, 2006

It's All About Who You Know !

Within the music buisness it is very important that you build your database of contacts. I can openly state that while my family has been in the film business for many years, I have found more cheerleading and support from music people.

If you are like I am and you have used MySpace.com, you probably have a "love-hate" relationship with their site. MySpace.com and to some extent, even YouTube.com is trying to create a "CLEARING GROUND" for new talent.

NextCat.com is much better. Why? It brings both established and new artists, composers, producers and service providers an amazing place to network, share ideas, music and to build their team. If you go to the Nextcat.com about page, you will read the following:

At Nextcat, we’re hoping to create the first global online networking community for all things relating to the entertainment industry. We’re 100% independent, and not beholden to any large corporation. With Nextcat.com, we hope to provide a marketplace of ideas and opportunities for both established and emerging talent, as well as a forum and meeting place for fans and enthusiasts.

Nextcat’s founders recognize that the traditional way the entertainment industry has operated for the last half-century is getting turned upside-down --at light speed. We firmly believe that from all of this disruption can come refreshing new opportunities -- and we’d like to become a catalyst in this process, by providing artists and musicians (like ourselves) with a broad platform to freely exchange ideas, job opportunities, and much more.

Let us know how we can better help you to accomplish your dreams and goals --we’re on your side and we’re listening!

Man, I wish I would have had this when I started back in 1975, it makes me
Reminisce!

Originally Released on Capitol Records, Catalog#: 4605, 4605
Format: Vinyl, 7"
Country: US
Released: 1978
Genre: Rock
Style: Classic Rock
Credits: Producer - John Boylan , Little River Band
Notes: Produced in Australia by John Boylan & Little River Band.

Posted by mitchsantell at 10:32 PM

November 27, 2006

In The Zone, Simone & Garfunkel!

Simon & Garfunkel, Bookends, Released in 1968

Did you know when a record is considered an oldie? According to my DAD when he owned Marty's Music, it was after 6 months. Make sure that you email me at: msantell@mac.com and tell me what you think! Well, in the grand scheme of things, I think there is a magical time that each artist has where they are at the peak of their talent. Now, I am not saying that S&G have not produced some amazing work since Bookends. What I am saying is that from 1967 to 1968 S&G were at the forefront of everything that was happening. I call it being in the zone. For Simon and Garfunkel their "zone" was the Soundtrack from The Graduate and Bookends. Of course everytime I think about this I have a
dilemma!

Posted by mitchsantell at 11:49 PM

November 22, 2006

First, There is A Moutain!

In 1969 at the ripe of 12 years of age, I remember my Dad bringing this record into Marty's Music. Donavan: the man, the legend! This guy sounds as cool in 2005 as in did in 1965. The guy is a legend and according to John Lennon, "Donovan is as important and influential as Bob Dylan and we are ... listen, the man's a poet."

With all the changes going on the music business, all I can say is that first there is a business model and then there isn't! Everyone is scrambling for the final answer. Who will win? I think the consumer....because when we want our music we want it now and we won't wait! For us at What's Out Next our take is There is a mountain!

Posted by mitchsantell at 05:39 PM

November 14, 2006

THE LADYBUGS Are Here!

Aaron Strebs, Joel Hirsch & Dave Feld of the Hip, Rhythmic Group: THE LADYBUGS!

Each and every day at What's Out Next we receive CD's from local, regional and national artists. Recently I had the good fortune to listen to an amazing band called The LadyBugs! While I am still recovering from my jet lag from New Zealand (more on that later) I had to share this new group I found.

Formed in 2003 by Aaron Strebs, Joel Hirsch and Dave Feld, the group has a very clean sound with expert production at Mother West Studios, the team has an amazing sound. Since the birth of the group, they have released three albums already.

At the end of the day, since I am barely off the plane from New Zealand, I am still waking up!!

LADYBUGS was the first album released back in 2003, nicely followed up by Electric LADYBUGS in 2004 and The Puzzle in 2005.

Make sure to visit their web site at: http://www.electricladybugs.com/

Posted by mitchsantell at 01:07 PM

October 31, 2006

Building The Bridge In New Zealand for Music!

For those of you who are kind enough to read What's Out Next! on a regular basis you know my personal passion for the music business. It is with great pride that I announce that I made it to Auckland, New Zealand this week. (By the way, I do predict it will become a major music hub the way Los Angeles did in the 1950's and 1960's.

We are having an amazing time and if you wish to visit what many in the entertainment business are calling "The New California," you must come to New Zealand.

While my darling wife Laurie of 21+ years is happily joining me on this trip, I am meeting with my partner Noel Ferguson (pictured above), meeting with my banking and legal team and of course the "official Kiwi Immigration" Department.

Movie Capital Limited is now building the bridge to complete it's official launch before June of 2007, so watch out! (Maybe I should see, take a listen)!

This past year has been a year of living in faith and while the challenges have been many. . . each and every time, the end result has been so much better than I could ever have thought!

At the end of the day, you just have to roll with it baby!

Posted by mitchsantell at 09:57 AM

October 27, 2006

Nik Venet and Bobby Darin!

Brian Wilson (left) and Nik Venet (center) at his 60th Birthday at Fairfax Market with over 200 people attending in December of 1996!

The late producer Nik Venet had an impressive list of clients he worked with in his career including the Beach Boys, Tommy Sands, Jim Croce, Lou Rawls,Linda Ronstadt, Glen Campbell, and The Letterman. He had produced over 300 albums in his legendary career which spanned four decades. When asked in a interview who his favorite person to work with was, Mr Venet responded "Bobby Darin".

Nik and Bobby became friends when they were both at the Brill building in New York, sharing cramped office space.They worked together at Capitol records in LA when Nik produced him, the first being the single "If A Man Answers." Venet also produced Bobby Albums "You're The Reason I'm Living" and "Golden Folk Hits".

In an interview with WBAI radio New York in 1995, Nik was quoted as saying that Bobby Darin was "an amazing human being...a man of great talents, many many talents." He also said of Darin: "one of his careers was more than any artist would want today...he had three, four careers going at the same time..he was adventurous...Darin did it when nobody else was doing it, he crossed borders." Speaking of their time working in the studio together he said, "Nothing ever went wrong in the studio,we could do a bad cut and have a great time, we would redo it and have a better time." Of Bobbys multifaceted career,Venet said that Darin "baffled everybody, he always came out on top...he would take failure and study it, found out what went wrong,redo it and turn in into a win..nothing was ever lost on Darin...everything he did he honestly believed in....he did it all and he did it from the heart."

Mr. Venet was often quoted as saying "I think about Bobby once a day every day."As a tribute to Darins legacy, Nik, along with Dodd Darin and Jeff Bleiel were instrumental in bringing the Rhino Bobby Darin Box set "As Long As I'm Singing" to life,and Venet was still actively producing with his own Evening Star Records company.

Mr. Venet died of complications of Burkitts syndrome on January 2, 1998,but had never stopped working up until his last hospital stay. He still maintained a close relationship with Dodd (who spoke at "A Celebration Of Nik Venets Life" a memorial service held at The National Academy of Recordings Arts and Sciences a couple of days after his death.)

At What’s Out Next we tip our hat off to both Nik and Bobby! I should know because prior to hosting What’s Out Next, I partnered with Nik Venet to launch his last label in 1996, Evening Star! All I can say is take a bath!

Posted by mitchsantell at 02:58 PM

October 23, 2006

Politics, Music, John Lennon, P2P and 8,000 Law Suits!

The Mid-term elections in the United States have everybody pulling out their hair! True or true? It does not matter what political party you belong to if you are passionate about music. Why? The music business is going through the same challenges as the mid term elections.

Need proof? I can provide it for you. Back on October 20th (just three days ago)....the following two headlines hit the wires in regards to the music business at exactly the same time!

The first head line was directly from the Wall Street Journal . . .

Record Labels Turn Piracy
Into a Marketing Opportunity
By JULIA ANGWIN, SARAH MCBRIDE and ETHAN SMITH
October 18, 2006; Page B1

A video clip from Jay-Z's live concert in June at Radio City Music Hall is popping up on all sorts of illicit music-sharing hotspots. But Jay-Z isn't upset.

That's because the rapper, at the request of Coca-Cola Co., agreed to allow distribution of the eight-minute clip -- which included promotions for Coke -- on the peer-to-peer sites, using technology usually used to thwart music pirates.

The unusual alliance demonstrates a new tack being taken by the music industry to deal with the challenge posed by widespread music piracy. For years, the industry has been suing individual downloaders and file-sharing services, hoping to discourage the practice. In a tactic little known outside the music industry, record labels have also started to hire outside companies to plant "decoy," or fake, files on the sites. (One such company, ArtistDirect Inc.'s MediaDefender, says it has deployed decoys for as many as 30 of the top 100 Billboard songs at any given time.) The decoy files frustrate users because they fail to download even though, thanks to the companies' technical expertise, they often claim the top spot in search results for a tune.

On the same exact day the following news story hit my email from Reuters . . .

Music industry in 8,000 new file-share lawsuits
Tue Oct 17, 2006 8:23 AM ET

By Kate Holton

LONDON (Reuters) - The music industry has launched a fresh wave of 8,000 lawsuits against alleged file-sharers around the world, escalating its drive to stamp out online piracy and encourage the use of legal download services. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which represents the world's music companies, said on Tuesday the new cases were brought in 17 countries, including the first ones ever in Brazil, Mexico and Poland. The trade group said more than 1 billion music tracks were illegally downloaded last year in Brazil, the largest market in Latin America. Record company revenue has nearly halved in Brazil since 2000, IFPI said. IFPI has said some 20 billion songs were illegally downloaded worldwide last year.

The industry has now filed about 18,000 lawsuits in the United States, the largest market for music sales, and 13,000 in the rest of the world. The legal proceedings involve both criminal and civil suits and are aimed at "uploaders" -- people who put copyrighted songs onto Internet file-sharing networks to offer to music fans without permission. The IFPI said many of those targeted for legal action were parents whose children had been illegally file-sharing. Others facing law suits included a laboratory assistant in Finland and a German parson.The group added that more than 2,300 people had already settled their case for illegally file-sharing copyrighted material with an average payout of 2,420 euros ($3,034). John Kennedy, chairman and chief executive of IFPI, told Reuters in an interview he was encouraged by the group's progress, although he said the fight against online piracy would be an ongoing battle.

Hey man, if John Lennon were here he would say just Give Me SomeTruth!

Released: September 9, 1971
Produced by: John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Phil Spector

Posted by mitchsantell at 07:17 PM

October 19, 2006

Watching America!

William Kern and Robin Koerner, Co-Founders of Watching America.com

Each and every day at What's Out Next, we look at the latest trends in Music, Technology and Buzz. I must admit that I was fasincated to find the best new independent media site out there. What is it? It is called: WatchingAmerica.com

For the first time in a long time....I am able to read a web site that simply and magically translates the news from Newspapers from around the world. Over the past few days, I have had some amazing and inspirational conversations with Robin Koerner who is only 30 years old and is the Co-Founder!

At What's Out Next, we predict big things for Robin and William.

The big power of their web site is that they have over 30 translators working away each day to simply bring you the news. Guess what? The sight is non-political, so you the reader get to make up your own mind!

I asked Robin his next steps and he said “Simply to Let me go....and I'll make the miracles happen with my media company”. Look out for them, they are on their way to being HUGE!!!

Posted by mitchsantell at 12:39 PM

October 18, 2006

Paul and Linda McCartney!

Over the past few days I must admit a certain saddness when I think about Paul McCartney. Back on June 8th of this year my wife and I will celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary and yes we have known each other for over 21+ years. Now think back to when you first saw Paul and Linda McCartney together. Do you remember it? If you were a hard core Beatles fan, you were upset about the union. To be blunt, I never was. In my world I watched my Mom and Dad who were married for 48 years.

For a man and a woman to find love, to have children and to build a life together is a great gift. I remember watching Paul age as his precious Linda passed away in 1998 of complications from breast cancer. The cancer had spread to her liver and as a result of complications she died in Arizona on the McCartney Ranch.

Family life was very important to Paul and LInda and they happily raised 4 children during their marriage and took them on the road many many times.

Yeah, I saw Paul and LInda McCartney perform in Los Angeles in the early 1990's when Flowers In The Dirt came out. Of course Flaming Pie is still a favorite. In fact, on that record you can tell just how happy Paul was in those days.

When Linda passed on, I remember how sad Paul looked. I also remember this talented and deeply troubled man going into seclusion for over a year.

Keep your chin up mate, it's going to be okay! For us at What's Out Next our take is to just give Paul some space man!

Posted by mitchsantell at 07:15 PM

2006, The Magic of Movies and Music!

The most important ship that you board in life is called a relationship. In any entertainment deal people bring three things to the table! Talent, Resources or Capital! From 1915 until right now the Santell Family Has been directly involved in the motion picture business. All of my cousins are in the film business and even Marion Davies was my Dad's Godmother so it's all in the family!

What's Out Next for 2006? Well, for yours truly Mitch Santell, it's the formation of Movie Capital, Limited in Auckland, New Zealand with a wholly owned subsidiary in the United States. The company will focus on Motion Picture Soundtracks. The company will help to get both Grammy Award Winning as well as new artists to get their songs into films.

If you want to know more, write music and want to see it placed in a film or have other resources to share, please email me directly at: moviecapital1@yahoo.com.au

The company is committed to bridging the gap between music and film. As a composer, there is no fee up front for you to list your composition with us and we will accept it in either "printed sheet music form," an attached mp3 or WAV file. Before the end of this month we will have the new web site up and running.

My family has been active in the film business since 1915 and if you look up Alfred Santell, you will see the over 70+ Motion Pictures that he Directed, Wrote, Produced and Participated in . Alfred Santell worked with my Grandfather Martin Santell. My Great Uncle is listed in the top 100 Directors of all time because of his successful transition from Silent to Talkies. My great grandfather was a silent film composer and that is what inspired the launch of Movie Capital, Limited and Movie Capital, Inc. My Great Uncle and Grandfather played a direct role in launching the careers of David Niven and Red Skelton.

Since we started to sign "composers" and "songwriters over the past 10 days, we have already secured over 3,275 Compositions from over 40 composers! Plesae email now if you want to be included in this. We all know the power of music and film!

Hey man, it's the simple things that are great, so don't put me into Thomas Crown Affair.

The Thomas Crown Affair Premiered on July 27th 1999 and starred Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo. Produced with a budget of 48 Million Dollars making 69 Million Dollars in the USA and over 124 Million Dollars World Wide. The titled track heard here "The Windmills Of Your Mind" beautifully written by Michael Legrand, Marilyn Bergman and Alan Berman and performed here by Sting!

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Posted by mitchsantell at 05:10 PM