You Better Ask Somebody!

You Better Ask Somebody! Staying On Top Of Your Career in the "Friggin’" Music Business is a music handbook that primarily helps prepare aspiring musicians to create a successful career in the music industry. The handbook, created for high school and college level students, explains how aspiring musicians can create a successful career path and make a name in the industry while maintaining their integrity. It's also a refresher course for veteran artists and a manager’s reference guide to improve their own work ethic.

You Better Ask Somebody! Staying On Top Of Your Career in the "Friggin’" Music Business is a music handbook that primarily helps prepare aspiring musicians to create a successful career in the music industry. The handbook, created for high school and college level students, explains how aspiring musicians can create a successful career path and make a name in the industry while maintaining their integrity. It's also a refresher course for veteran artists and a manager’s reference guide to improve their own work ethic. Book Excerpt: WELCOME TO MY WORLD! After 25 short years of being in the music game, only to watch the industry fall so quickly, gone are the label-funded recording studios with their 20-foot sound boards, coffee runners and all night physical tape edits. Over the years, I studied the business and observed those very few Execs sitting at the top of the pyramid scheme, who built their mansions on your shoulders and the sweat of your backbone, blinged you down to your Mercedes feet while pushing their subliminal messages up on the big video screen and at the end of the day, all you were left was a quarterly bill written in red negatives. Believe it or not, back in the day, it was worse! They used to buy your copyright for a dollar and fed their grandchildren off the heels of your ignorance. At least you got the 12 – carat gold necklace. Maybe Ray Charles couldn’t see, but he had vision and smelled the proverbial rat behind the desk. He cried out, “I want my budget AND my copyright.” He proved to us that at the end of the day, it really was up to the ‘percentile’ to collectively uphold the industry’s original artistic culture and most of all, the moral fiber of the business. Call us, “the 99-Percenters.” Sounds more like America. We were ignored because they thought the game was going so good for them. They even decided to have a mp3 mass-industry giveaway for years……but then they fell asleep at the wheel. They let the Freedom Riders take over (Napster/Kazaa); however, before they were eventually defeated, The Napsters of the world left the industry depleted….kids stopped reading credits, it was all about the dummy download. But now, everything old is new again Oldie this, Oldie that, forget the future, let’s just keep spinning these oldies! Then Jobs finished the job, with the Big Apple notwithstanding, and the stock was fat while the rest went flat. There was no real counter-punch, every swing was futile, every punch was inefficient and utterly painless. So how and when did this happen? HEY! Stay out of the rear-view mirror, or you may wreck yourself. Ladies and Gents, time to look ahead, and protect the very thing that is yours, that you worked so hard to make. Your brand, your art, you! Take a break, come out the trenches for a minute. Come…Let’s take this ride together, collectively devoid ourselves of possible further self-destruction, leap past the land mines….it’s time to arm yourselves with competitive corporate intelligence with knowledge that you are so deserving to have so you can win at the game. You can agree or disagree with what’s written herein, but one thing’s for sure - if you don’t know, “You Better Ask SOMEBODY!”

NEW YORK – Mount Vernon, NY native Bob Baldwin, Jazz Artist, Radio Host and Music Presenter, is an unsung hero when it comes to the Contemporary/Smooth Jazz genre and is on the move.  With a vision to take his gift of music to bless those less fortunate, and raise funds for organizations in need of help, Bob Baldwin adds Arts Advocate, Educator, and now Author to his resume. His only book speaks to his career highs and lows regarding his 25+ year music career. Baldwin is collaborating with Cynthia Calloway (daughter of the esteemed legend, Mr. Cab Calloway) and Michael Mills for the Feed the Children Program in Phoenix, Arizona.  Humanitarian efforts go back to 1986, when he raised the awareness of HIV/AIDS in his hometown.  On a production front, he is working with Peak Records, The Best in Contemporary Music to produce a tribute to the great Thom Bell, Philadelphia Songwriter legend and Music Producer, who is known for being one if the creators of the Philadelphia sound for groups like The Stylistics and the Spinners.  Bob Baldwin’s constantly evolving, ever expanding musical world grew out of his childhood in Mount Vernon, New York, where his father, Robert Baldwin, Sr., was an accomplished jazz pianist and upright bassist working with Keter Betts (Ella Fitzgerald’s main bassist) and Art Davis (the last bassist for John Coltrane). Baldwin went to his dad’s jam sessions around the country and studied the masters of the Westchester region, which included local stars like Lou Derry, Jimmy Hill, Fred Smith and Carmen Leggio. He began playing the piano at age four and as he grew up, his musical voicings began to incorporate a rich array of influences, from Herbie Hancock and Stevie Wonder to Earth, Wind & Fire, Chick Corea, Joe Sample, Patrice Rushen, Miles Davis and George Duke. Even after studying accounting, business and broadcasting in college, Baldwin never strayed far from his first love. In 1986, he formed The Bob Baldwin/Al Orlo Project in New Rochelle, NY. The group’s performances at the legendary Bottom Line in New York City led to his first production with trumpeter Tom Browne—which ultimately led to a two album deal with Atlantic Jazz Records that included the releases Rejoice and Reflections Of Love. Prior to those, his first recording in 1989 was a concept record billed as The Dream featuring Bob Baldwin on the experimental Malaco Jazz label. Complementing his natural ability to weave his life experiences into music while creating inventive harmonies, Baldwin has invited many high caliber musical heroes and peers to join him on his recordings over the years. These include Roy Ayers, Gerald Albright, Jeff Kashiwa, Dave Mann, Chieli Minucci, Phil Perry, Kim Waters, Will Downing, Marion Meadows, Najee and Grover Washington, Jr. Baldwin’s recent endeavors include the digital CD Never Out of Season, his first ever gospel-jazz recording featuring hymns, gospel classics and originals; and the book “You Better Ask Somebody,” a guide book for independent artists based on experiences that Baldwin has accumulated in his nearly 30 years in the music industry; it covers such topics as publishing and artist royalties, and he hopes to spread the knowledge of the music business in high schools and colleges. The journey continues.