Music Touches Humans deep inside their soul and being. There is a part of us, that is deep inside our minds, and our very being, that is in resonant harmony with music. Music touches us at a depth that few, if any, can understand.

I think that life would be nothing without music and all art. Art is indeed a part of our very being.

I read an Article that Stated that there is evidence that Humans made and played Musical Instruments before they had voice boxes and could talk. That is pretty amazing, and it shows how deep the love of music is in Humankind.

Before Edison and Bell invented the Sound Recording Machine, we could only listen to live music, so the person who could play an instrument was most always popular. When the Europeans left their homeland and moved to America, they usually could not bring large items like Pianos and Organs, so they brought Guitars, Violins, and whatever else was small enough to load on the Ship Bound For America.

When the Pioneers headed West on the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail, they took their smaller Music Instruments, most often leaving the Pianos and Organs back East. No matter where people go, they must have music for it is part of their very soul and being.

The phonograph recordings sold big time as soon as the Recording Machines were manufactured and marketed. At first the most high tone music was recorded, then popular music, and at some time the entrepreneurs realized that the common folk who lived in the Rural Areas of America wanted to hear their type of music, so the Country Music Industry was born. The Entrepreneurs realized that Black Americans would love to hear their type of music so the Blues Music Industry came into being.

With Recorded Music one could hear the best there was to offer, even if they could never see the performer. The Recording Industry Prospered as soon as it came into being, for all humans love music.

Radio had live music. And often the musicians who performed on Radio were recorded. Radio turned out to be the promotional tool of the Music Industry, for recording companies--and for musicians who wanted to be well known so they could get good personal appearance bookings.

The Radio DJ Came into being at least by the end of World War Two, and by the mid 50s, there was little live music on the Radio. The live music had gone to the New Medium, Television.

Though Recorded Music was always an important part of the Music Industry, by the time Elvis came on the Scene and took the world by Storm, the Recording Industry was growing by leaps and bounds, therefore the pressure to get hit recordings became more and more important to an artist who wanted to make the big time show business scene.

As musicians moved from radio to the Recording Studios, many found that singing for a microphone and four walls and recording machines was not inspirational at all, and some successful live musicians could not make the transition to the Recorded Music Business. However, most who went into the Studios eventually got the hang of it, with some help from the Professional recording people.

In the beginning of Recorded Music, the live band went into the Recording Studios and Performed, but as time went by, the Studio Musician came into being. The Studio Musician is usually a superior player who is creative and can come up with music that will make the singer sound good, so the recordings will sell. Those Studio Players who consistently come up with backup music that sells recordings are much in demand.

The Man or Woman in Charge of a Recording Session is called the Producer. The Producer is responsible for getting hit recordings, recordings that will sell and make money for the Recording Company. To the Producer, the Star Singer is just another part of the over all recording. The Producer comes up with the Arrangement, then turns his Arrangement into the Reality of a Great Recording, one that will hopefully be a hit and make money for the Recording company.

The Record Producer has the ability to use the Recording Equipment to get the Sound the Producer hears in his mind. Using the Recording Equipment is as much a part of a hit recording as the singer and musicians. A Producer could be likened to a symphony conductor, with the Musicians, and the Recording Equipment as part of what the Producer Must Conduct to get the finished Product. If this finished product is good enough, it will become a hit. The importance of the Producer cannot be over emphasized, for the Producer is responsible for the quality of the Artistic Performance using the Singers, the Musicians and the Recording Equipment to Produce a hit Recording, a Recording that will be purchased by music lovers.

In the beginning of the Recording Industry, there was not much equipment to operate. There was not even a microphone. In the Beginning, there was this horn type device that the musicians played in front of, as loud as they could play for a needle connected to a diaphragm had to be moved to cut the groove in the Wax Cylinder. Thus the term, "cutting a record," came into being. But in spite of the very simple equipment, the art of getting a hit recording was the same then as it is now, only the equipment has changed. What makes a hit recording never changes no matter what type of recording equipment is used.

Even when Recording Music was done on this simplest of machines, there was always a producer to see that hopefully a hit was recorded. The Producer was as important then, as he/she is with all our modern computerized recording equipment, for it is the art that goes into a recording that makes it a hit, the equipment is merely the tool of the artist.

When physical recordings are distributed, the cost is enormous, as is the cost of the actual recording process in our present time period. Both The Professional Recording Equipment and the Sound Studio itself, are more expensive to build and maintain than most people can imagine. The Musicians Unions always see that their members who were employed to backup Recording Artists were some of the highest paid in the music business, therefore the cost of Musicians for commercial recordings adds much to the cost of producing a hit recording. The Cost of Producing a Hit Recording is more than the average person can imagine.

In addition to the actual recording costs, The Record Companies spend and incredible amount of money on Promoting the CDs they are marketing. From what I have been able to discover from reading different material on the Recording Industry, by the time a recording gets to the retail stores a recording company has at this time in history usually spent about $250,000.00. So there is little wonder that the Recording Industry hires people who they believe will be able to produce a hit recording. If the Producer does not records songs that are potential hits, then the CDs do not sell, and the Record Company has lost and enormous amount of money. This was also true in the first days of recording music for sale to the public. The Dollar amounts lost may have been smaller in the early days of recorded music, but still it was a loss that any business could not long endure.

With the cost of recording music, manufacturing the CD, advertising, promotion, and the distribution of music being so great, there is little wonder that a Young Management Executive by the Name of Michael Robertson founded MP3 COM which would make it possible for anyone who could record their own songs and upload them to the internet to present their recorded music to the world.

It is my understanding that Michael Robertson had been in high level management positions with both Recording Companies and with Computer and Internet type of Corporations, and his creative mind saw the possibility of every musician who writes and records songs being able to let the world hear his/her music, and allow those that listened to the musicians songs, buy on Demand CDs, or purchased CDs from the Musicians Web Sites.

MP3 COM went over like Gang Busters almost from the first day it went on the internet. Musicians were hungry for a good web site that would give the entire world a chance to hear and purchase their recorded music. Many more MP3 Type of Internet Web Site sprang up over night. The MP3 Revolution was on, and would definitely change the world of music, and how music was distributed, or delivered, to the music lovers of the entire world.

Since the Record Companies have to be very selective, only a few of the millions of Musicians who wrote songs and played music on a professional basis, could ever be signed to a Record Contract. MP3 COM made it possible for all musicians to market their recorded music to the world.

Though the original intent of MP3 COM was to market CDs by letting people listen to sample songs from the Internet, this did not work out well, as not enough CDs were sold to make it profitable for musicians. However, if a Musician's Songs were being listened to and downloaded, and therefore making the MP3 COM Top 40 Charts, most musicians were happy with the opportunity to be heard by everyone all over the world and sell a few CDs. When MP3 COM started their Payback for Playback Program, a musicians who songs were popular on MP3 COM could earn some good money from the web site in Royalties from their Songs getting Listens and downloads. This made the musicians of the world very happy, and the number of songs posted to MP3 COM increased at a Phenomenal Rate.

The first month of the Payback for Playback Program, one artist earned over $4,000.00 in royalties. This proved that one could actually earn a living from their music being posted on the MP3 COM web site. In June of 2000, MP3 COM started the Million Dollar Payback program where the web site paid out one million dollars a month in royalties to the Artists. On the First Month of the Million Dollar Payback Program, someone, I think possibly two Music Artists, earned over $20,000.00 in one month, from royalties on their listens and downloads on the Great Web Site. This was good news for the Musicians of the World.

There have been some Musicians who have had over One Million Listens and downloads from the MP3 COM web site in the year that the Payback Program has been in effect. This proves how effective the web site is in taking Recorded Music to the World.

In addition to providing a place where musicians could actually earn a living from their Recorded Music, MP3 COM showed the music lovers of the world that they no longer had to go to A Retail CD shop to get music. MP3 Proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that music could be delivered digitally over the Internet.

The Success of MP3 COM in just the year that the Payback Program has been going has changed the Music World Greatly, showing musicians that they no longer had to depend on getting Contracts with Recording Companies to get the Recordings heard by the entire world. And for some musicians with Music on the Great Web site, the payback money in Royalties provides enough money to make them full time Music Professionals. This was never possible before MP3 COM came into being. No longer did Music Artists have to have a Record Contract to be successful with their recorded music. In anyone's book, this is a revolution for the Music Business.

MP3 COM has provided a world wide Market for all Musicians to be heard. This is a development in the Music business that no one had expected.

The world listens to and buy music from the MP3 COM web site. As a Guitar Player in Denver, who records all the parts of his songs, my CDs have been purchased from the MP3 COM Web Site, by people from all over the world. MP3 COM pegs the location of those who purchases our CDs, and then reports to us what CD was sold, and the location of the person who purchased the CD. My CDs on MP3 COM have been purchased by people in Austria, England, France, Australia, Canada, and most all of the States here in America, including Alaska. That is pretty Amazing.

As a Country and Blues Guitarist I have earned over $10,000.00 in a year and one month in MP3 COM Royalties on my Songs. I still can hardly believe this has happened. Long ago the listens/downloads on my songs passed the 250,000 mark. I have had fan email from people all over the United States, and all over the world. My Songs made the MP3 COM Top 40 charts in Country Blues the Day after I uploaded them. For the entire time I have been on MP3 COM, over a year now, I have had songs on Top 40 Charts.

At this Date Sunday, December 10, 2000, I have 10 songs on the Top 40 Charts of MP3 COM. In July and August of 2000, I had four songs make it to #1 on their Top 40 Charts. At one time I had the top 4 songs on the Western Swing Charts of MP3 COM, and the #1 Song in Acoustic Blues, and the Number one song on the Spiritual Country Top 40 Charts. You can imagine what a thrill this is for a musician. And I have had my MP3 COM Chart success as basically a Guitar Instrumentalist. In the Commercial Music world, an instrumentalist seldom gets a song on the top 40 Charts. The Record Companies just don't promote instrumentalist.

The Success of MP3 COM with the Payback Program the Web Site Started In November 1999, caused MP3 COM to grow from 40,000 artists with 100,000 songs, to over 100,000 Artists with over 700,000 songs in only a year. This is truly an amazing growth rate that has exceeded the Expectations of the Founders of MP3 COM. Need less to say the Commercial Recording industry was made aware of the tremendous marketing power of the internet when it comes to Recorded Music.

MP3 COM is truly a World Music distribution Web Site, with 6 out of the top Payback for Playback Artists on the web site coming from outside of the United States. Through the Use of Computers, MP3 COM can track the number of times that an artist Songs are listened to and downloaded. It is by this means that MP3 COM determines who to pay royalties to. And it is by this means that MP3 COM knows who is the top artists on the web site, and what part of the world the artists live in.

In the end, the public, the music lovers, determine what will be a hit recording and what will not be a hit recording; this is true for both the Commercial Recording Industry and for the Music on the Internet. No matter what artists and songs the Record Companies Push, the Fans still have to love those songs enough to purchase the CDs. And naturally on the MP3 Web Sites, the Fans are responsible for the success of any song or artists.

MP3 COM is by far the most Popular MP3 Web site for non commercial recordings, with over one millions ( 1,000,000 ) listens and downloads each day. MP3 COM has top 40 Charts for 17 Genres of Music, and Each Genre has at least 10 Sub Genres that fall under each Music Genre. This produces at least 170 Top 40 Charts on MP3 COM. That means that 7000 songs on MP3 COM can make it to a Top 40 Chart at any given time. Any song that gets on any Top 40 Chart on MP3 COM is a hit, for it is chosen by those who visit the web site from over 700,000 songs. This means that any song that gets on any Top 40 Chart of MP3 COM is in the top one percent. This is an accomplishment that any musician who post their music on MP3 COM can be proud of. Those songs that make it to each main Genre Chart are truly hits. And those songs that make it to the Main Top 40 Chart of MP3 COM, which encompasses all the Genres, and Sub Genres, is truly a Hit.

On MP3 COM the hits are truly picked by the music fans. Most MP3 COM artists do not have the money to promote their songs, so the picking of hits on the Web Site is done primarily by those who visit the web site. In the Commercial Music World of the Big Recording Companies, big money is spent to make a song a hit. The fans often do not even know about the artists that the Big Record Companies do not spend money to promote. I'm not knocking the big record companies, I'm just explaining it. The Record Companies must naturally spend their money on the Artists and Songs they think will make it big, and show a profit. For every Commercial Record Company Artist that makes it big, there are probably at least a hundred artists that no one ever hears, and the cost involved in producing, and distributing their recordings is lost money. The Successful Artists that are signed by a Big Record Company in effect make it possible for new Artists to be recorded.

There is something about a hit recording that is not easy to define fully, but nonetheless it is still there, and there in all Hit Recordings. The average Musician does not understand the difference between hit recordings and those that never make it big with the public. In Fact the average Musician does not understand the difference between live music and recorded music.

In an Interview on NPR I heard someone say that they thought it was the energy in the Music Of Buddy Holly that made him so popular. I think it is the Artistic Energy in recordings that makes them hits. I would go so far as to say it is the energy, and the feelings that makes any recording a hit with the music lovers.

In reality what makes a song a hit in the commercial music world also makes the hits on MP3 COM, or any other MP3 Web Site. There is that certain something that makes a song become a hit. The variables are many, in making a song a hit. No one fully understands what all the Variables are for even the Professional Record Men who have produced many hits do not have a Hundred Percent Hit Rate. I would say they are lucky to have a Hit Making Average of 30 Percent.

The Fans Filter the Songs, the performances of the Artists, this is true for all Music Markets. The Fans just listen and know if they like a song or don't like it. Many Fans don't fully understand why they like or don't like a song. But the fans will tell you this song is great, where this other song is nothing.

Many would say fans do not have good taste and that some songs that become hits are not artistic songs. However, there is some kind of spark, some kind of Energy, some kind of Feeling, in every song that becomes a hit in any Music Market. The Fans most assuredly know what they like, and if you listen to the hit recordings that have been made, you will find something common to all hits: there is some kind of Musical Magic in the Hits, something that is usually not present in the songs that do not become hits, though this is not always true. However, with the Commercial Music market being one of selling CDs with 10 songs on them, there must be enough good songs to make the music lovers buy the CD, for they will not purchase a CD to get one good song.

In my opinion, the Fans have artistic Taste. This is especially true if you look at the entire music market. Contrary to what the Large Record Companies believe, people are not just hung up on what is playing from the Top 40 charts. There is much music by Smaller Labels that make a profit, and it's not Top 40. Also the Classical, Jazz and Blues Music markets do quite well, though maybe not as well as the Top 40 Market.

If one does not believe that there is true art in a hit recording, just listen to the original that was a hit, then listen to a new recording of the song. A hit recording of any song, by any singer, or band, can seldom be reproduced by re-recording the song. I have heard LPs that were done long ago, that have the Greatest hits of an Artists, then I hear a another LP with the same songs by the Same Singer, and the instrumentation is copied as close as possible, but the spark is not there.

In my opinion a Hit Recording is an original master piece that can never fully be duplicated again. There are just too many variables to ever get exactly the same art twice, even if all the Same Studio Musicians were used, and if the songs were recorded in the same Studio, using the same equipment, with the Same producer supervising the second recordings. At least I have never heard a Hit Recording ever duplicated by any artist, and I have heard quite a number of re-recorded Hits. It's never the same, the spark is not there, the energy is not there, It is a cover, even when done by the same artists who recorded the Original Hit. So this proves how much is involved in getting a hit recording.

I would say that the Record Producers are more responsible for hits, and even the sound of a Top 40 Band, than the band itself. Have you heard the early songs of a lot of Top 40 Bands? The Early recordings of most top 40 bands are not that great. Some Record Producers were probably responsible for giving most top 40 bands their sound.

The Record Producers get a Grammy along with the Artists who has received enough recognition to get this prized possession. This is so because the Producer is most likely more responsible for the great recording than the band itself.

I heard a Top Country Artists interviewed who said that the Producer Bob Sherrill Insisted he record some songs he did not want to put out as recordings. And the Country Artists further stated that the songs became huge successes. And as the interview continued this Top Country Artists told of another time the Producer Bob Sherrill insisted he record some more songs that the singer did not want to release. And these songs also became monster hits. One might have gathered from the interview that if the singer had his way, and could have chosen the songs he wanted to do, and the style he wanted to do them in, he would never have recorded a hit song with the Label that Bob Sherrill was working for. This proves how important the Producer is in getting hit recordings...

continues next week...

By Robert Lee Johnson
The Guitar Man
http://www.mp3.com/theguitarman