How to Support Indie Music

It doesn't take a lot of money to offer your support to your favorite indie artist. In some cases, it doesn't cost you anything. We're looking to get our music to as many people as possible. We don't have the man power and funding of a record label, so indie artists rely on a hands on approach at the grassroots level. That includes people like you, our amazing supporters who encourage us, root for us, and cheer us on.  We need your actionable help both online and off. You can do things like:

• Share our music with others. I have a Soundcloud account here where you can share a song directly to your social media. It only takes a few seconds. It would also help if you mentioned something about the song or how you met me to give it a personal touch.
• I have free download cards too that I can send you, just send me your address and I'll mail them to you so you can give them away to your friends.
• Follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
• Host a house show. Enjoy a night of live music in the comfort of your own house with your friends and family at the cost of whatever you want to donate. It's a win-win for everyone. Click here to learn more about it and to schedule a house show with me.
• Just come out and see me perform live! It won't cost nearly as much as going to see a mainstream artist, and it will be more intimate, more fulfilling. Plus, I promise to make sure you have a good time.  Here is a link to my show schedule.

I created this infographic to share these ideas and a few more on how to support independent music. Supporting independent music is like supporting your local Mom and Pop shop in your community. Out of convenience, we've been duped into supporting big box corporations and mainstream businesses which takes the money and power out of our communities and our hands into the hands of the 1%. After a while those little independent shops go away and we're left with large corporations controlling our economies. When you support mainstream artists more than you do local independent artists, we end up quitting or not putting out as much music, or not doing as many shows because there's no support. Supporting independent music is good for the community and the economy.

Whether you have just a few minutes or just a few dollars your investment of support will not go in vain. Every minute or dollar you spend supporting independent music is extremely important to us and it's an investment you're making into the community.  We thank you for your support! And if you can share a song with a friend who needs to hear something encouraging or a song relating to their circumstance why not do it with music from an independent artist? Also, if you are making any videos online on YouTube for example, see if we'll let you use our music! I'm pretty sure any one of us would be honored and it puts a dollar in our pocket as well through royalties.

Share this with others and spread the word. You matter and you're making a difference.

What it's like on a Reality TV Show

Ever since filming for a reality TV show, I've got a whole lot more respect for the Real Housewives and any other reality TV show!  Filming for a TV show is a lot more demanding than I thought it would be.  Honestly, it was like going to a 9-5 job. We showed up at 9 in the morning and didn't finish for the day until 7 or 8 in the evening. I will tell you from my own experience, it's not easy.  If you can believe it, we were filming all day! We had one camera man so we had to repeat most of the scenes.  There were wide shots, close ups, long shots, b-roll footage requirements and more. They were nice enough to feed us lunch and snacks every day, which was always great. When we first signed on to do the show, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. All we knew was that we wanted to build a tiny house and it would be fun to be a part of HGTV's Tiny House Hunters. And that it was. I can't wait until our episode airs, but unfortunately they haven't told us when yet. So far, all we've got is 'sometime this Spring.'

Our audition process was a bit nerve wrecking for me. We had a short phone interview and then we were invited to do a video interview.  There was some waiting involved before we found out they wanted to move us along the process.  The video interview was with one producer, but it was recorded so that more of the producers could get a chance to see it and weigh in.  I kept wondering what they were thinking and if we were going to make it to the next phase or not.  They mentioned they needed to wait to see if the show was going to be ordered by the network.  They also mentioned that there were owners of the show that made decisions as well.  It turns out, TV is ran like any other business.  There's not much difference when it comes to budgeting and decision making.  There are employees, contractors, owners, and investors.  It's all based on what is profitable or marketable and what is not. You can't blame them I guess.  Everyone out here is trying to make a dollar.

When we found out we made it through the audition process we were ecstatic.  I've got to hand it to the producers, handling scheduling and locations for each episode is a huge ordeal. To cut down on costs they try to hire as many local contractors as they can. There's the camera men, the sound guys, and the assistant producers. We had the most amazing crew. They were super patient with us, professional, and a lot of fun to be around.

That's Rob and I and Chaz, our sound guy. We're waiting to go view a tiny house. We viewed 3 of them overall. Although, we were on set all day there was a lot of downtime waiting on the crew to  shift things around on set for the next scene. I was listening to meditation music to calm my nerves.  Not sure what Rob is doing! Stay tuned for my next post reality TV post...

I'm Calling for a Revolution

I found out recently that our show at Beans Cafe in Houston has been cancelled.  Although guests and patrons usually come out specifically to hear performers share their passion at Beans, our friend and owner of the coffee shop had to make the difficult decision to stop presenting live music.  I know for a fact people really enjoyed live music there because every time I played there people came out to listen and I received a lot of great feedback from patrons there who are now supporting me.  So why has this happened?  Why shut live music down?

I have had a similar experience with another coffee shop halfway across the country and have heard countless other stories about venues just shutting down live music abruptly.  It is happening all over, not just at Beans. The reason might surprise you.

The music industry itself is to blame.  This is how it works.  There are laws in place to protect the rights of songwriters so that they will be compensated every time one of their songs is played whether live or from a recording.  Venues who showcase live music must pay annual dues to organizations who then pay royalties to those who own copyrights to the songs.  In order to enforce this, we’ve got the live performance police who stalk venues’ Facebook pages and ‘secret shop’ their establishments to see if they are showcasing any music that has been logged in their catalogues.  If they find a venue who presents live cover music and has not paid up, the venue owner will be charged hefty fines.  So venues are faced with the choice of paying annual fees or not showcasing music at all to avoid the harassment.  Some venues just can’t afford to pay up and opt to shut down live music all together.  That’s what Beans Cafe has done and so many other venues.  I totally understand the dilemma.  But where do we go from here?

Wherever live music is shut down, the people in that area lose out on a place to congregate and enjoy live music.  Ultimately, the community pays the price.  But it doesn’t have to be this way.  For starters, music and art can not be contained and should not be controlled by people who just want to monetize it for dishonest gain.  I don’t have time to go into how the music industry system actually works.  But I will say that record companies were created in order to capitalize off of musicians. So this whole ‘we have to compensate our artists and songwriters’ business is a farce.  What they really want to do is pay themselves. The music industry is corrupt in so many awful ways. You would be sick to your stomach if you really knew how deep the rabbit hole goes.

Music serves a much larger purpose than this.  It edifies the soul.  We can’t let it be stolen from our communities.  Rebels, I’m calling for a revolution. Let’s take back control. If you love live music, you have the power to bring it to your community. You don’t have to rely on venues to sponsor it.  YOU can sponsor it in your living rooms, in your basements, backyards, in your community centers, in the empty lot next door, in your churches, in private clubs.  They can not control what we do in our private spaces.

I will come! I know countless other artists who will come do music with you if you create a space for it.  What would this look like?  It’s simple really.  All you have to do is invite your closest friends, neighbors, and family over for a get together.  Invite an artist to do a couple sets and voila. You brought live music to your community! What’s more, you don’t have to pay performance fees yourself.  The community can do this together by asking each guest to bring a small donation for the artist and let the artist sell their merchandise.

This is what being a conscious rebel is about.  You create a lifestyle for yourself where you are not relying on a corrupt system that seeks to control and squeeze money from you. You have the power to take back control.  If you are interested in hosting a community music show, please get in touch with me.  I live in Houston but I love traveling!  Contact me (info@anitrajay.com).

We're Building a Tiny House

Have you seen the TV shows where they feature people building and living in those houses that seem way too tiny?  They're always looking for ways to save space and you wonder how they are able to fit a family of 4 comfortably in that small of a house, if that's what they want to call it?  Yea, we're building one of those!

We were first introduced to the Tiny House idea after reading about a family who closed down their restaurant during the downturn of the economy. They decided to sell their house and opt to build a smaller house on a trailer.  They moved to a farm in Virginia and I believe they started homesteading.  They were able to live off of the land with very low living costs. Even though they experienced financial difficulties with the failure of the restaurant, they figured out a way to make it work for them. I thought, what a novel idea, but didn't really consider doing something like that myself until we decided to do music full time!

When I started getting opportunities to travel more, I asked Rob what he thought about quitting his job and going on the road with me. I was afraid he would laugh me up and down, but he actually considered it.  However, the issue of money and how we would pay our bills quickly came up...Naturally.  We had a four bedroom, two-story, 3 car garage, house with a semi wrap around porch. Needless to say, that house was not about to let us quit a job and become full-time musicians.  So we decided to get rid of it.  We put it on the market and it sold within a month.  So now we were homeless and full time musicians.  I know this sounds like a sob story and a bit reckless, but we had a plan.

We got involved in a great opportunity to host events in an apartment community in Nashville in exchange for pretty cheap rent.  It was a sweet deal and the best part about it was that we were in Nashville, Music City capital of the US!  We took full advantage of that, playing in Nashville venues and meeting excellent musicians along the way.  During this time, we found ourselves thinking more about that couple in Virginia and their Tiny House.  If we did what they did, we could reduce our living costs even more and enjoy a life without being responsible for an 8-5 or a mortgage.  We could live wherever we wanted, travel wherever we wanted, work wherever we wanted with less financial strain.  That idea was extremely attractive for us.  So we started our own Tiny House journey and have not once looked back.

We started our build in Memphis, TN.  We lived in a camper in our friend's backyard for four months while we worked on the build.  It was a lot of fun and we learned a heck of a lot about construction, electricity, plumbing, and working together.

We got it to a point where we could take it on the road and we set the house on a path to Houston. We moved to Houston to be close to Rob's family.  He hasn't been home since he first went away to college.  It's been a long long time.  With our new lifestyle, it seemed like the perfect time to move.  Our Tiny's first road trip was successful.  It traveled for 24 hours at a very slow pace and eventually made it to it's semi-permanent destination.

We are still working on the interior of the house.  We still need to complete the kitchen, flooring, trim, and stairs.  But the house is livable.  We have lofts, running water, electricity, and a fully functioning bathroom.  It's been quite the journey!

All in all, I'd say the hardest part has been the mental and emotional side of things.  Some of my close family members have had a really hard time accepting our lifestyle changes to the point where we are no longer welcome in their house.  I find it completely absurd, but some people get defensive and very angry about what we are doing.  This one person in particular thinks that we are backtracking and undoing what those before us have worked so hard to do.  We both have college degrees and the potential to have sustainable lucrative careers, but we've opted to reject the concept of corporate America and live a more humble lifestyle.  They have decided that they don't want to be in a relationship with us and it's been extremely hurtful. These relationships are still in disrepair at this time, but my hope is that they will eventually come around.

When we first embarked on this journey, I didn't consider that I would have to defend why I've made these choices for my own self and that some would have such a hostile reaction to it.  Take Steve Harvey for example.  He thinks that folks living in tiny houses have lost their faith and don't want to dream for a better future.  I'm not going to link to his rant here, but you should be able to find it with a quick internet search.  I am disgusted by people who fail to realize that one person's dream is another person's nightmare.  Everyone has different goals and ambitions in life. If a person wants to live their life one way, who are we to judge and say they shouldn't? We have run into many people who take this approach including family members.  And my fear is that some of them might never understand.

All I can do is just live my life, do me, and let the chips fall where they may.  I'm happy with our decisions and I am not looking back. Our motto on this journey has been to make life good. This means you can either have freedom, joy, and peace or despair, misery, and chaos by the choices you make.  At the end of the day you have to live with yourself inspite of what others say or think about you.  So why not make yourself happy?

Hello Again from Texas

We Moved to Houston!  Our time in Memphis has come to an end and we plan on staying in Houston for the long haul.  If you've been with us since the beginning you're probably wondering why we move around so much.  The answer is, I don't know.  We are free thinkers and creatives and I guess we just haven't been able to stay in one city for longer than 2 years.  We were never quite able to establish strong roots in Charlotte or in Nashville the way we wanted. So now that our move is complete, although we're still not quite settled in yet, I'd like to share my top 5 things I've learned about Houston since moving here.

1. Our new lot was a dog park and a great example of "The Okey Doke".

So we moved into an intentional community where residents share activities and communal areas like a community garden and a chicken co-op.  It's such a great idea and we are totally excited to be a part of this community.  However, the lot we ended up on happens to be the community dog park. The day we moved in, one of our new neighbors asked us if we were comfortable with dogs.  We said, "No, not really. Why?" And he said that the residents use our new lot as a dog park.  Here we have a classic "Okey Doke."  We weren't told that we were moving onto a dog park! We surely would not have agreed to that had we known. I'm not too comfortable with dogs so we had a problem.  Thankfully, we are getting things worked out so that no dogs will be chasing after me.

2.  The drivers in Houston are not that great.

You can tell if a town's drivers are great by the price of car insurance.  Well, our Texas car insurance went up by $20. Driving out in Houston, it doesn't take long to find out why car insurance is so high.  The drivers here are cray cray.

3.  I've never lived in a city that has more than one skyline.

I think there are four or five areas in Houston with sky rise buildings. That goes to show you just how vast the city is.   According to CityMayors.com, Houston is the fourth largest city in America so it makes sense that it would need more than one skyline!

4. Houston, land of the bayous.

When I lived in Charlotte, I absolutely loved all the greenways. You could run, bike, and just enjoy the greenery. Well, Houston's bayous are greenways on steroids.  They are mostly very well kept, a great place for a family stroll along the water in a park like setting, and lots of dog parks! LOL!  If you're ever in Houston, be sure to check out the Buffalo Bayou, it goes right through downtown and it's beautiful!

5.  The Houston music scene is on fire and I can't wait to get involved. I've got a residency gig at Bean's Cafe on Eldridge every third Thursday and I'd love to get some other artists on board with me to do something similar to what we did with The Rebellion.

I'll keep you posted on that.  Stick around, we've got some exciting news coming up and I'm super excited to share it with you.