Goodbye America...

This weekend's edition of The Sound Of Nottingham UK will unfortunately be the last one. While I have enjoyed doing the shows and sharing the eclectic musical output from the city of my birth, certain factors are getting in the way of producing the show.

Most of Nottingham's music makers are nice people and I have made some good friends among them. The show has been well received by the vast majority, and even if people don't recognise me they twig when I mention 'that American radio show that plays Nottingham music'. My gratitude to Marshall Miles for giving me the show is as strong now as it was on day one. I never imagined having a radio show on an American station so that is quite an addition to the CV.

Sadly the negatives keep eating away at me. The biggest being the attitudes and ego within the scene, this hasn't got better and it is this delusion of grandeur that will prevent certain artists from breaking out. It used to annoy me when an invitation to appear on NottinghamLIVE was met with one of two reactions. The first was saying they'd come on when they had something to plug, when we explained that we asked people on merit and weren't a show that relied on people appearing as part of a publicity junket. This even happened when I was doing sessions for the American show! A few people found their way onto my blacklist which effectively meant that they received no more airplay on thee other side of the Atlantic. To my mind this diva behaviour hadn't been earned; you can only become a prick when you're at a certain level; Axl Rose is a good example. 

Then came the issue of new material. I have had to resort to asking for tracks for the show, and while most have been grateful some have treated the idea of American airplay as an inconvenience. A lot of the time this happens with artists with managers, so I would ask that they take a good look at who is supposedly looking after their interests and ask themselves if they are doing their job properly. Compere this to The Sunday Alternative, for which I receive songs from PR companies and labels from all over the world because this is how the music business works.

A combination of apathy and cliques are stifling Nottingham, as is the closed door policy of certain organisations. The Nottingham Post were good enough to run a story when I first started doing the show, it was a good angle to have a show for Nottingham musicians to receive their first American airplay, but no other media organisation got on board. I can't be too harsh on a certain arts magazine as they are still only just getting used to covering music, having only done so for the last three years of their ten year history. If I ran a cocktail bar they would have written pages about that. If I knew nothing about music and never went to gigs, I might have been asked to judge their talent shows too!

Nottingham musicians will still be played on The Sunday Alternative, which receives hits from all over the world and they will also be invited onto the new video version. I will continue to give my support to the local music scene, nothing has changed there, I am perhaps the most active supporter.

My advice to the new bands and artists is to try not to become part of a clique, and don't take any arsehole tablets as they are highly addictive.

It has been a pleasure doing the show, and despite the minority of twats I am proud to be part of the Nottingham music scene. My final show will be my favourites, and the version of the show that appears on Mixcloud will be half an hour longer.

Update

I don't do enough of these newsletters, but that's because there isn't a lot to say most of the time. Here is a brief update on what's going on in Planet Oliver...

The Sunday Alternative relaunching as a podcast has been a huge success, so thank you to everyone who has listened so far. Don't forget to tell your friends.

I'm still doing the American show every week. It won't be long until I'm at 100 editions of The Sound Of Nottingham UK.

I am developing two Internet television projects at the moment, The Sunday Alternative and Saturday Breakfast. TSA will be fortnightly (alternating weeks with the audio podcast) and SB will be weekly but filmed in a series bulk. Both will feature the best live music from around the country while at the same time remaining focused on the Nottingham music scene. I am filming a pilot TSA so that we can look at it and see what needs doing, which although being labelled as a none-broadcast will probably be released online at a much later date.

Filming a pilot edition of SB will be a little trickier, as I have only heard back from one suitable venue (it has to be a venue with a kitchen) and they want three hundred pounds for room hire. On top of other costs I reckon we can film it for five hundred and come away with something workable. I may even use the pilot as the fund raising video on a crowd funding site, or use it to try and gain sponsorship. Even if the pilot is filmed at this place I don't think we'll use it for a full series as the owners don't seem (at this point) to appreciate that it will essentially be an advert for them too.

These two little projects are top of my list at the moment, which is why I am once again passing my hat round. Once I have made the shows, they will become available online absolutely free of charge. Please find it in your hearts (and pockets) to make a small donation (or a big one) using the PayPal button on this page. I am not out to make a profit, I am just out to provide entertainment.

I will also put the money that my main blog makes from Kindle subscriptions, and downloads from my Bandcamp page.

Many, many thanks in advance

Steve

Nottingham musicians...

I posted this on Facebook earlier, and as it's too long for a tweet I'll leave it here. Basically it is my response to all bands/musicians who are entered in the Future Sound Of Nottingham competition. 

"As one of the many cogs in the wheel of the local music scene, it would be unfair for me to pick a favourite and unprofessional to boot. Nobody involved in radio, podcast, promoting, or management should vote in the Future Sound Of Nottingham. I do however wish you all the luck in the world".

Some video changes

I am in the process of deleting an old YouTube account called The Oliver Sessions, a name I didn't really like but couldn't think of anything else at the time. It was set up when I started on Sherwood Radio and I suppose I used the John Peel connection/comparisons a little too much.

Two videos with the biggest amount of views have now been added to my own channel.

It is an almighty pain in the arse to do this as you have to delete your entire Google account, so in future my email address is steveEoliver@gmail.com

A Christmas Carol audio book

In December 2012 I released an audio book of A Christmas Carol that was available to download in four separate chapters (or 'staves' as I used Dickens' word) from my BandCamp page. As with all of my audio books, it was available to download on a pay-what-you-like basis.

While there are still audio books available to buy, I have removed the four separate audio books of A Christmas Carol for the time being. In December I will be re-releasing the book as one download in album form.

There will also be a brand new Dickens Christmas audio book this year.

You can download audio books from my page on BandCamp.

Under The Bonnet #1

I am doing some work to tidy up and streamline my presence on the World Wide Web, the first step was to remove my old website. From now on the nearest I have to a website is the main blog, and I will also make more effort to keep this newsletter updated regularly.