Jarome Matthew’s Blog

For years now, I’ve been racking my brain as to why the media seems to have no interest in even attempting to explain what is really going on in the music industry rather than spread PR driven hype from major corporations…
This quote really says it all:

“That’s what’s wrong with newspapers.  Writing articles so neutral as to be uninformative.  What’s that cliche?  If tomorrow Dick Cheney said the earth was flat, even the “New York Times” would write: “Roundness of the Earth in question.”   - Bob Lefsetz

I have two essential things to say of my own regarding this problem in our society that you will ‘get’ in terms of their source depending on who you are: “independent investigation of truth”, and “Don’t believe the hype”

Many who know me know I have no problem taking risks, and strongly stating my opinions and beliefs. In fact, right now i’m taking one of the biggest risks I ever have with a new venture that I’ll be blogging about in detail soon…

That’s mainly because I feel that if you have to live on this insane, corrupt, self obsessed planet, you have to make the most out of it, and live it to it’s fullest. Not because this is ‘it’, far from it! This life is just to get us warmed up and prepared for the worlds beyond. I take risks because as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr said, if you live life in fear, your not really living at all, your already dead:

“I say to you, this morning, that if you have never found something so dear and precious to you that you will die for it, then you aren’t fit to live.
You may be 38 years old, as I happen to be, and one day, some great opportunity stands before you and calls upon you to stand for some great principle, some great issue, some great cause. And you refuse to do it because you are afraid.
You refuse to do it because you want to live longer. You’re afraid that you will lose your job, or you are afraid that you will be criticized or that you will lose your popularity, or you’re afraid that somebody will stab or shoot or bomb your house. So you refuse to take a stand.
Well, you may go on and live until you are ninety, but you are just as dead at 38 as you would be at ninety.
And the cessation of breathing in your life is but the belated announcement of an earlier death of the spirit.
You died when you refused to stand up for right.
You died when you refused to stand up for truth.
You died when you refused to stand up for justice.”

-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
From the sermon “But, If Not” delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church on November 5, 1967.

“The world is changing, and our outlook needs to change with it, because old models don’t cut it anymore…”

- Blake Ross, co-founder of Firefox web browser, downloaded over 300 million times worldwide

“When the winds of change are blowing, some people are building shelters, and others are building windmills”

- ancient Chinese proverb

Which one do you want to be, in this hurricane that has hit the music industry and business in general?

Are you a musician / artist?

I’m wondering if you can spend a minute to help me help artists like you.
I am trying to gather some anonymous research data from artists on what is an affordable amount of money per month for them to spend to obtain assistance towards a successful music career.

I have been in the process of trying to restructure my company, Pro Soul to be able to assist artists. We are exploring various monthly subscription based packages that will provide artists with consulting, services, and resources they need to develop a strong healthy career and fan base depending on what they need and can afford.

All you have to do to assist and state your opinion is fill out 2 short polls:

www.prosoul.com/poll.html

Pro Soul’s new mission is twofold: To provide music fans with great music by diverse International artists and to affordably assist artists in developing their career in a changing music industry to build a strong, long lasting audience they have a close relationship with that will create financial rewards that far surpass those possible with simple CD sales.

The new music industry is drastically changing, moving away from major record corporations and back to independent artists, moving away from physical product to digital media. Economics will bring in $4.8 billion in revenue from digital downloads in the US alone in 2012.
I blogged about the changes in the music industry more here:
the-end-of-the-music-industry-as-we-know-it

In this receding tide, Pro Soul’s aim is to assist artists to clear the path of discovery and purchase of music by enabling artists to more easily connect with their fans, and enable fans to purchase and access music more easily than they ever have before.

Pro Soul will consult artists with information provided by the worlds most knowledgeable experts in the future of the music industry, and provide virtually every aspect of what an artist will need in their career, performing those duties the artist does not want to take on themselves. We will provide the latest innovative techniques and services that have been proven to work to bring paying, dedicated fans to artists.

Key individual behind Pro Soul will be myself founder, music producer, audio engineer, and composer for over 17 years, Jarome Matthew. I achieved early acclaim with gold dance tracks on top 40 radio and a number of major label compilations in the early 1990’s and now produce and consults artists internationally and teach these things at a local college.

Although expenses and financial goals will be important in the first year, focus will be on assisting clients to become successful in generating enough new fans for them to see the signs of a successful long term career in the industry.

Right now all of this is just an idea developing. Based on the results of the poll and other research and consulting I am doing, and financial analysis, hopefully this will all be a great asset to artists and help me finally achieve my dream of really being able to help them.

Visit again to keep updated on how it’s going.

“Some people who create great things, even some performers have additional energy flowing in when they perform; there’s enormous enthusiasm which everybody can feel and they almost want to soak it up. ”

- Eckhart Tolle

Well, it’s a new year, the first of the three of them (I celebrate the Gregorian new year in December, Chinese new year in February, and Baha’i New Year in March)
Every year, I commit to making a resolution to listen more, and talk less. Like the good old days when people thought I was on drugs. will this be the year I actually do it? That remains to be seen.
“Do or do not. There is no try” the wise master Yoda says.
  This of course includes interrupting less. For those that are a victim of this (ie: most of you that I have ever talked to), it’s only because I don’t trust my own brain enough to remember what I wanted to say by the time you are finished speaking. I do love to talk, I guess you could say I am extremely opinionated. An air hog if you will.

But my other resolution is to be more compassionate to myself so I can be compassionate to others. Given the above I may not be off to a very good start… Oh well, I can try again next month for Chinese New Year.

“All progress depends on the unreasonable man.
The reasonable man adapts himself to the world.
The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself.”

- George Bernard Shaw

There’s no alibi
‘Cause I’ve drawn regret
From the truth
Of a thousand lies

So let mercy come
And wash away…

What I’ve done
I’ll face myself
To cross out what I’ve become
Erase myself
And let go of what I’ve done

Put to rest
What you thought of me
While I clean this slate
With the hands
Of uncertainty

So let mercy come
And wash away…

What I’ve done
I’ll face myself
To cross out what I’ve become
Erase myself
And let go of what I’ve done

I’ll start again
And whatever pain may come
Today this ends
I’m forgiving what I’ve done

- Linkin Park , “What I’ve Done” from Minutes To Midnight

Yes…. Exactly.

Every so often, I intend to post some of my favorites quotes and why I love them. Here is one of my most recent and yet, most important discoveries:

” every facet, every department of your mind is to be programmed by you, and unless you assume the rightful responsibility and begin to program your own mind, the world will program it for you”
- unknown

If anyone knows the source of this quote, in other words, who originally said or wrote it (it has been sampled and used in various music tracks…) please, post a comment and let me know!