Deepak- Spoke about how everything/everybody in the world is connected …….But that for some reason society always looks at everything/everybody as separate! Now Deepak said something that stuck with me, he said “YOU ARE THE UNIVERSE IN MOTION”! That everything you see in the world., Tree, Air, water, people, stars, etc….. Are apart of YOU!! NOT SEPARATE FROM YOU!!  So what does this mean?? What I took from it was that if you look at anybody that you come across  in your life as connected to you,  you will look at them in a different light.

Think about it this way: Your life is your perception of how you view the world. Everything that you do in life, cautiously or sub-cautiously is a mirror image of how you feel about yourself. So if your out treating people like shit, then there’s something inside of you that your not happy with. So if you look at everyone as connected to you I’m sure you’ll treat them with more love and compassion and respect.

You just want to get to a point where your able to observe yourself without judging yourself”!

“WEARE NOT JUST THE DROP IN THE OCEAN, WE ARE THE OCEAN IN THE DROP”!

I Believe whole heartedly in Deepak’s words and didn’t even scratch the surface of what he teaches …So if your into this stuff as I am!!! Please check him out and I’m sure you’ll get a lot out of it as I do!!!

cheers!

bmelo

RECIPE FOR SUCCESS -

1. PRACTICE

You need neither talent nor skill to succeed in today’s music business. If you look good enough, we can fix your voice in the studio. And we can get others to write your songs. But the more weapons in your arsenal, not only the longer your career, the greater your options.

Learn how to read music and play one instrument, if not more.

2. RECORD

Recording comes before playing live because you don’t need an audience to do it. Whether done alone on a Mac or an iPad or with your group in a studio, getting your music down “on tape” allows you and others to critique it. It’s a static document from which you can learn. It’s kind of like videotape in sports.

You should not see recording as a one time thing, but as an ongoing activity. To not only learn about your music, but to make you comfortable with the process.

3. DECIDE ON THE MUSIC YOU WANT TO MAKE

Do this after you start recording, after you woodshed.

There are two options. Making the music you want to make and making music that you think you can sell. They oftentimes are not the same.

4. DECIDE WHO YOU WANT TO SELL THIS MUSIC TO

If you’re looking for a major label deal, you must make the kind of music labels sell. And you must know that record companies are first and foremost businesses, they are not museums. If you don’t think you can make a record company a lot of money instantly, don’t bother knocking on the door. Labels don’t want to hear about artist development, they want instant profits, no matter what they say. Don’t try to sell quantum physics to a baby. Don’t try to sell work boots to a runway model. Know who your audience is.

4.A. IF YOU’RE SELLING TO A LABEL…

Make it easy for them, don’t make them connect the dots. Your demo must be slick, ready to be on the radio in its present form. Sure, they might re-record or remix it, but don’t count on a label to have vision.

Visual materials help.

And so does an audience.

But be professional. Your goal is to make the label salivate, desirous of being in business with you.

5. IF YOU’RE NOT SELLING YOUR MUSIC TO A LABEL…

And you shouldn’t be doing this if you’re not making Top Forty music. Oh, you can sign with an indie, but know you’ll probably have trouble getting paid.

Indies are poorly capitalized. They don’t have the relationships of majors. They promise a lot and deliver little.

Of course there are exceptions, but discover if the label you’re interested in truly is one or you just need to make a deal to feel good about yourself, to impress your mother.

We’re living in the era of control. Give up just a teensy-weensy bit of it and you might never gain success. The suits never see it your way. If you think they do, you are one or have never been in business with one.

5.A. YOU MUST BUILD AN AUDIENCE

This is where the games truly begin. Unless you’re a famous actress or sleeping with the producer du jour, no one in the business wants to pay attention to you unless you’ve got an audience.

And the new metrics no longer count.

MySpace could be gamed and so can YouTube and Facebook. High online numbers never hurt, but no one with the money to invest in you is going to believe them on their surface. They want to show up at a gig and see it packed. In multiple cities. They want to know you’ve done the work.

And you might ask yourself if I’m doing all the work, what do I need them for?

And that’s a very good question.

5.B. BUILDING THAT AUDIENCE

It all comes down to the music. Doesn’t matter what you look like or who you know, here’s where the rubber meets the road. Music is something you hear, yours has to be really damn good to connect, exceptional. It has to be so good, that if someone listens to it they want to tell everybody they know about it. Click on the random tracks in your own library, do you want to sell this stuff to everybody? Now you’re getting the idea.

The more people playing, the harder it is to win.

Good is not good enough.

You’ve got to be great.

5.C. ASSUMING YOUR MUSIC IS GOOD ENOUGH

You must make it available. It’s got to be buyable, streamable and listenable for free. You’ve got to make it easy. Don’t make the mistake of thinking about money up front. Money comes last in music, especially in today’s world. You don’t want to sacrifice millions to make $10,000. Are you in it to be a world-beater? Then you must work for free for eons. Every dollar you do make must be reinvested. If you’re not thinking big in music, you won’t be.

5.D. PLAYING LIVE

You’ve got to. Because the days of huge recording sales are done, live is where the money is. Play anywhere and everywhere people will have you. If you’re good, the audience will spread the word.

5.E. MERCH

Must be available at every gig. It’s a souvenir. People want to invest in you. Have everything from posters to vinyl to CDs. You’re selling badges of identity.

6. TRACTION

If you’ve got none, and you’re questioning whether to give up, do so.

Traction is an indicator of whether you’re on the right track. You’ve got to gain a foothold and increase your audience. And you can’t do this artificially. Only you know if you’re going forward. If you’re delusional and want to continue with no traction, that’s your choice.

7. BE A LIFER

There’s no cashing out in music. It isn’t like Instagram selling to Facebook. If you’re not planning to play forever, stop now. Because it’s probably gonna take forever for people to learn who you are and embrace you. With the cacophony of information today it’s harder than ever to get noticed. Sticking around counts for a lot. The longer you’re in the game, the better the chance you might get lucky.

8. PUBLICITY

Works less than ever before. Works on a train-wreck level, like with Rebecca Black, but if you’re the beneficiary of this kind of exposure, milk it for as much as you can right away, because it ain’t gonna last.

The audience is sophisticated, it knows hype, and it ignores hype.

Not only does print mean almost nothing, TV isn’t much better. If TV counted, all those contestants on “American Idol” and “The Voice” would be winners, but almost none of them are.

If you get a placement, enjoy it, just don’t try and convince yourself you’ve made it.

9. CONCLUSION

YOU CAN MAKE IT!

But you can win the lottery too.

But the lottery requires no skill. Music requires a ton of skill as well as luck.

Keep practicing, keep innovating, keep learning, keep changing.

And know that the odds of you being successful are infinitesimal.

Because being successful is not solely about being talented and believing in yourself, but perseverance and personality. Can you play, write and sing like Elton or Gaga and still make friends with everybody you meet, so they’ll want to work for you?

So much of success is psychological and personal. Are you a winner? Do you have charisma? Do people want to hang on your every word? Do girls want to sleep with you and guys want to confess to you and vice versa? If you or someone in your band doesn’t have this magic amalgam of personality, chances are you’re not gonna make it.

Steve Jobs inspired belief. We can deconstruct his personality flaws all day long, but he got people to work extremely hard for him. Can you inspire people to work just this hard for you?

Cheers!

Dogs are very intuitive creatures and feed off everything that we do or feel. So although I know you have to put in  a lot of work with the dog to get the results you desire, you also have to put in  lots of work with yourself. As Ceasar says,  Calm, Assertive , Energy!  I’m hooked on this fricken show now and I’m really going to practice what he preaches! It will improve the dogs life and mine! I guess what I’m trying to say is GET A DOG!! LOL Then you’ll know how much patience you really have and how reactive you’ve been!

cheerio!~

b melo

b melo

Human beans want to make things more complex then they are,  it’s in our nature to do so.. But there’s ways to get yourself out of a slump and start living the life you envisioned possible,   because it is possible.

Start with asking yourself the right questions – Most people ask bad questions there for get bad answers in return. The mind is not bias, if you ask your brain a question it will give you a answer even if it has to make something up!  For example- If you ask yourself why am I so fat? It will tell you because you eat like crap, don’t exercise , you’re lazy and don’t take action.  So just because you asked a shitty question it makes you feel like shit in return. But if you just changed your phrasing you would get the answer you’re looking for. If you asked “What do I need to do to get in shape?  it would say eat well, exercise, take action ect ect….. you see where I’m going with this right?

Trust me I know I don’t have all the answers but I know whenever I’m in a funk this method is the fastest way to get me out of it! It’s time to stop living through your excuses and finally decide to make a change! It’s starts with you and it will end with you! I know if I was still using my old way of thinking I would not be where I am today. The vibration of my thoughts were just way too low- I’m lucky somebody gave me this advice before,  because it got me through a lot of unnecessary hardships!

p.s. One question to ask yourself everyday! “What am I focusing on right at this moment”?

cheers

b melo

These guys take a beating, and they keep on coming back for more! Anything for that extra yard! All I can think about while watching the game is how similar your mindset has to be in the music business, well anything in life for that matter.  It’s a long road and with the pressure that you put on yourself, it can sometimes feel like your getting hit by a 300 pound Defensive end, over and over again, but you can never stop! Anything for that extra yard-

I’ve had a lot of up and coming musicians / artist come to me and the first thing a lot of them will ask is “How can I get a record deal” ? If your thinking this way, your focusing on the wrong things. The first thing you should ask yourself is  ”am I any good”?  What do I need to do to get better? See, it’s such a saturated business so you have to have The Goods if you wanna get  any buzz.

Ask yourself , what am I doing this for?  If you say for the fame and the money, I’d say get out right now! Most of the singers in this country that you look up to are grinding everyday and making ends meat, just for the opportunity to do what we love. Of coarse we want all the bells and whistles and live the high life, but if we make that our main goal everything that we do or produce becomes artificial and people aren’t stupid, they see right through that!

So if you want to do music for a living , be like those pro football players and claw with your fingernails to get that touchdown, take the hits!!!!

It has to be for the love of your craft and you understanding that this is your calling . So get back to the music, speak the truth, wear your heart on your sleeve and play for anybody that’s willing to listen! Give it all you got with no expectation of getting anything in return,   I guarantee you that’s when things will really start rolling for you!

It’s not an easy road, but nothing worthwhile ever was . So make a declaration to yourself that this is a life long journey and your willing to take the shots to make it an reality – Every person who has made it , has done exactly that.

Probably because there’s just no other way!

b melo

This little dude is awesome and we’re so glad we got him!  We were thinking about getting a dog  for a few years now, but I didn’t think it would be happening right at this moment! We just moved into a new place a couple of weeks ago and we’re still getting settled in – so getting a dog now wasn’t exactly in the cards.

See, Angie and I went to Costco to look at a couch (p.s. My first time ever in Costco) All I gotta say is what was I doing with my life , that place is awesome! LoL

…Anyways so we’re looking at this couch talking about not getting one that’s too fancy,  because if we get a dog we know he’s gonna beat the shit out of it!  While talking about this, a gentlemen walks by and says,  ”if your looking for a dog my friend has some beautiful doberman pups” This to us was a sign, because that’s the exact breed we were talking about getting for the last couple years.  So we said “let’s just go check the pups out for fun”! lol Yeah right!  - It was love at first sight!  They had three dobermans and to be honest “Brando” was the last guy  we paid attention too,  ’cause the others were jumping all over us so we thought they may be the one.  There was just something cool about how “Melo” Brando was! HEY OH! so once I put him in my arms my friggin heart melted and that was it! So now as I’m working in my office from time to time get surprises of poop on my new carpet,  and wake up at 6am to let him do his business! It’s been a bit of an adjustment, but this guy is so worth it! I’ve never met a pup that was so chill and obedient! Besides that poop on the carpet!  :) So the adventures of “Brando” begin!  I’m sure more stories will continue so stay tuned!

It’s weird I kinda feel like Owen Wilson from “Marly and Me” Blogging about my dog. Hopefully with Brando I don’t have to hold him out of a car window as he tries to escape! lol

b melo

On Saturday, December 17 the following morning, Brian Melo will visit the kids at McMaster Children’s Hospital and spread some holiday cheer. Brian and guests will arrive with toys and gifts, season’s greetings, and of course his guitar to perform for and fellowship with the kids and staff. “McMaster Children’s Hospital is thrilled to have Brian Melo perform for the children in our wards. It is sure to be a highlight of their day,” Said Peter Fitzgerald, president of McMaster Children’s Hospital.

The Dec 16 performance will be Brian’s first public performance in Hamilton for 2011. Brian arrives back home, in Hamilton on December 3 after a 3 month school tour across 6 Canadian provinces. “It’s heart-warming to see an artist donate their time and energy to a cause for children, at a time of year when it matters most,” said Brodie Schwendiman (The Casbah). Brian Melo, McMaster children’s Hospital, and Casbah Lounge joined in a triune effort to share the spirit of the holiday season, and all are welcomed.

For additional information and interview request, please contact…

Nik Duncan
Manager
289-668-2227
nduncan@calicommunique.com
www.calicommunique.com