Are you an artist & want to work with a BILLBOARD charting audio engineer? Dave Fore is your guy!

No, it's not Donald Trump, LOL!  It's my friend Dave Fore, audio engineer extraordinaire!  Although his Facebook profile photo (above) is anything but, he takes his craft very serious.  He's a 5X Billboard charting engineer whose worked with major recording artists, including Compton AV featuring Snoop Dogg, Baby Bash, Big Tray Deee feat XZIBIT, country recording artists The LACS, the list goes on.  Amazingly, Dave played a major role in helping his artists rack up 100 Million+ streams in 2018 alone!  He also mixed and mastered my single, Savage feat. Trey Songz, which was #3 on the Digital Radio Tracker Top 150 Independent Chart and #9 on the Digital Radio Tracker Top 50 R&B/Hip-hop Chart in May 2017.  Dave is also a voting member of the Grammys.

I first met Dave in the mid 1990's at Pound4Pound Studios in Delano, CA.  He was part of a talented team of producers/engineers which included Rick Natividad (retired) and DJ Eric "the Insane Mixaken" Tapia.  As far as I can remember, Rick and Eric made the beats, Dave was in charge of mixing/mastering them.  Not sure if Dave knows this, but the demo Dave and the crew produced for my brother and me (we were a Christian hip-hop duo called C.O.G) prompted Ron Fair, VP of A&R at RCA Records, to reach out to me.  Mr. Fair said he liked what he heard and would be forwarding it to someone at his label who handled the Christian music genre.  Never heard back from Capitol Records but that interaction with him has motivated me to continue to make music to this day.  And I must add that had it not been for Dave and his team's help on that demo, I don't believe Mr. Fair would have ever contacted me at all.  A few years later after I heard from Mr. Fair, he signed multi-platinum recording artist Christina Aguilera https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Fair

In closing, if you're serious about taking your music to the next level I whole-heartedly recommend Dave Fore's services!  And make sure you have a budget in mind, his time is very valuable and he doesn't work for free.  You can contact him via his official website at http://davefore.com/ Be sure to follow him on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/iamdavefore/ and at Facebook too at https://www.facebook.com/iamdavefore

How much money are your favorite artists really making on Spotify, YouTube, etc??

Have you ever wondered how much your favorite
artists earn on music streaming platforms like
Spotify and YouTube?  It used to be that artists made
their money from the sale of albums, 8-track and
cassette tapes, CDs, etc.  Most of you probably
never even heard of an 8-track or cassette, am I right?!
With the advance of technology, music went from
an album you bought at the local record store to
a virtual file you purchase in an online store.  So much has
changed the way we buy and listen to music.  It was inevitable
that the music industry had to change too.
Enter Napster, YouTube, Spotify and all the rest...

I found an interesting article, "Music Streaming Services: Royalty
Payouts in 2019" by EDMTUNES.  Here's a link if you'd
like to check it out, https://www.edmtunes.com/2018/12/music-streaming-services-royalty-payouts-in-2019/  According to the article, music streaming services pay artists the following, from highest to lowest payouts:
1.  Napster pays $0.019 per stream
2.  Tidal pays $0.0125 per stream
3.  Apple pays $0.00735 per stream
4.  GooglePlay music pays $0.00676 per stream
5.  Deezer pays $0.0064 per stream
6.  Spotify pays $0.00437 per stream
7.  Amazon pays $0.00402 per stream
8.  Pandora pays $0.00133 per stream
9.  YouTube pays $0.00069 per stream

Just for kicks and giggles, I wanted to see how Taylor Swift fared
with just one of her songs, You Need To Calm Down,
on YouTube and Spotify.

Taylor Swift's You Need To Calm Down on YouTube
118,000,000 views x $0.00069/view = $81,420

Taylor Swift's You Need To Calm Down on Spotify
163,540,706 streams x $0.00437/stream = $719,043

Not too bad for one song on 2 music platforms which pay the least amount to artists.
I would have crunched the numbers for You Need To Calm Down on
all the rest of the music streaming platforms but I wasn't able to get the data.
Suffice it to say, Ms. Swift is doing very well for herself just in music streaming alone.
I didn't even mention what she earns from
all of her sold out shows, her multi-platinum record sales, endorsements, etc.

According to an article in the LA Times on August 20, 2019,
"Two years ago, on demand streaming platforms
like Spotify and Apple counted for 54% of total music
consumption in the U.S, according to Nielsen music.
In 2019, that share is up to 80%."  https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/music/story/2019-08-20/taylor-swift-lover-streaming-spotify
There's no doubt that the game has definitely
changed when it comes to how we get our music now as opposed to
back in the "good old days."  With the digital age,
music sound quality is better than before and it's cheaper for
consumers due to affordable monthly music streaming
subscriptions with almost unlimited access to music.
Although artists aren't selling as many "albums" as before, and even with the
fractions of pennies being paid to the artist per song stream as in my above example,
artists like Taylor Swift are not starving by any means!
 

Time to put your $$$ to work! And WIN! Don't miss out, there's still time...

Most of us work a 9-to-5, 40-hr job.  Possibly some overtime so we can afford those little extras.  Or maybe you put in your 25-30-35 years, retired and are on a fixed income.  Where does all the money go??  House or rent payment, car payment, maybe go out to dinner or a movie once in a while.  But one things for sure, we all have lots of BILLS with little to nothing left over!  Believe me, I've searched long and hard for legitimate ways to make more money, and most times nothing ever panned out.  Until about a year ago.  I decided to put my degree in Business Economics to work, which I had pretty much abandoned for years.

First place I looked was in the precious metals market. Precious metals include gold, silver, platinum, you get the picture.  Why?  Precious metals are, for the most part, recession proof and a tangible asset, something you can touch unlike stocks.  Now if you have the means, gold is a great bet!  As of today 8-17-19, gold is trading at $1513/oz.  At a minimum, gold continues to hold it's value, and some investors are saying that it may go as high as $40,000/oz due to market changes, https://www.fxstreet.com/analysis/its-time-to-get-serious-about-silver-201908141424
If you don't have $1500+ to spend, which most of us don't, do you have an extra $17 to spare?  That's what silver is currently trading at...actually, it's trading at $17.13/oz as of today...and is positioned to grow leaps and bounds (see the above link to It's Time To Get Serious About Silver).  FYI I transferred my County retirement account about a year ago to a silver IRA (individual retirement account) when silver was at $15/oz.  The County investment wasn't doing me any good growing at a mere 1% ROR (rate of return).  I could do better putting my money in a savings account at the bank, etc.  However, I decided to look elsewhere and found the precious metals market.  And some market experts are saying silver could go as high as $100/oz, and according to the above article silver could go even higher ($175-250/oz).

Why silver??  I know is hasn't grown much since I made the transfer, but it WILL!  Again, I refer you to the above link for a detailed explanation.  But the short of it is, silver mining is declining worldwide, yet silver demand is growing in a major way!  I'm sure you learned something about the law of supply and demand in high school, the law of demand says "the quantity of a good demanded falls as the price rises."  Two examples of what's happening with silver demand.  As of 2020, all new homes in California will require solar panels, of which silver is a main component.  Second, China is the world's largest market for solar energy and they are not slowing down anytime soon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_China Those are just two examples, I encourage you to search on your own to find out more about the growth potential for silver, and how you can make some serious money with silver.

Bottom line, do your research but I highly recommend you buy silver NOW before you miss out.  Make sure you buy silver from a legitimate source.  I say this because you want to make sure the silver you are buying is pure silver, not a mix of silver and other metals. I bought my silver from Lear Capital but there are other places you can buy from as well.

Good luck!  I'll post other financial opportunities for you to review and possibly invest in later on...

I'm always on the lookout for incredible music of various genres for my Spotify playlists.   I was fortunate enough to be sent a single called SATISFY ME from a new band called The Unfits.  I wasn't given too much information about the band so I searched Google to see if they had an official website but couldn't find one.  The only information I was given was that SATISFY ME was produced by Emil Haynie, producer of Kanye West and Adele.  Cool!  I really enjoyed the song's ethereal intro which transitioned into a catchy hook.  SATISFY ME has potential to do well and will fit nicely in a pop and EDM oriented genre radio format or playlist.  Be sure to check out SATISFY ME on Spotify at
https://open.spotify.com/track/60wMiIhXXdMwgdUwlbx420?si=qNH2CGVFS3Cf3jWbG42l5w
AND add it to your Spotify playlists.  It was definitely a good fit for my GrindnShine Vol 2 playlist on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4mt6GesuFBafdRMIc5MJcN?si=LcaD6RAoSdCqyZagrWZk6w
You can also follow them on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/theunfits/ 

Coming soon, my new single with Breana Marin!

I'm very excited to announce that BREANA MARIN will be singing the hook for my next single.  You may not know her by name but I'm sure you know of some of the multi-platinum artists and producer she's worked with, including Keyshia Cole, Brandy, Fifth Harmony, and producer Rodney "Dark Child" Jenkins. Breana has such an incredible, soulful voice that has been described as "velvety smooth vocals influenced heavily by Sade."  I couldn't agree more!  I don't want to give you the name of the next single just yet, but I do want to let you know it will have an EDM-hiphop vibe that I'm sure you're going to love!

Here's a link to a YouTube video Breana made to describe her process when writing and recording  hooks for songs:

https://youtu.be/a6UYOzpUqW8

If you're an independent artist and want to collaborate with Breana Marin, be sure to connect with her on her official site https://breanamarin.com

Want to work P/T and/or make money from home? Here are some LEGIT opportunities for you!

I'm sure you've seen a ton of images like the one shown above.  Truth be told, there are a lot of "GET RICH QUICK" schemes out there on the web but from personal experience, I caution you against them! Might as well throw your cash in the trash because the outcome will be the same, broken promises and worst of all, less money in your bank account! It's with this in mind that I'd like to share some opportunities out there that won't cost you anything but your time.

Here are some links to online surveys that pay you for your opinions. Expect to spend anywhere from 10 to 45 minutes per survey. Good if you have some extra time on your hands, and you could make anywhere from $1 to $3 per survey:

VINDALE RESEARCH https://www.vindale.com/v/index.jsp
SURVEY JUNKIE https://www.surveyjunkie.com
19 Best Sites to Take Paid Online Surveys https://wellkeptwallet.com/best-survey-sites/

Here is a link to a company called LIONBRIDGE that offers part-time jobs where you can work 10-20 hours per week from the comfort of your own home. Search JOIN OUR TEAM, minimum requirements, high school diploma or GED:
https://www.lionbridge.com

Are you creative and have a way with words? Here are a couple of companies that, if selected, will pay you anywhere from $20 to $200 to provide unique names for business and websites:

PICKY DOMAINS https://www.pickydomains.com
NAMING FORCE https://www.namingforce.com

Have something to say and/or sell, become a blogger. Here are a couple of links to help you get started:

BLOGGER https://www.blogger.com/about/?r=1-null_user
Amazon.com Associates Program https://affiliate-program.amazon.com

I'm sure there are lots more opportunities out there where you can make money from home just be careful and check out the companies, including online reviews and complaints, before you take the plunge! In the words of Lt. Aldo Reigns from the film INGLORIUS BASTARDS, "If it sounds too good to be true, IT AIN'T!" Good luck and hope you find something, if not from this post, a great opportunity where you can make some extra money. AND be sure to share your link here!

Need a good quality, reasonably priced cell phone holder for your car?

I found this nice cell phone holder for the car or truck! AMAZON rated it 4.5 out of 5 stars, and is reasonably priced below similar cell phone holders. Very easy to install (no tools required), and it doesn't go in your cup holder where you put your coffee or other beverage! NICE! AND the cell phone holder is closer to eye level.  Installed in the vent of your vehicle vs. the cup holder type which presents a greater danger since you'd be required to look down, taking your eyes off the road.    

Beam Electronics Universal Smartphone Car Air Vent Mount Holder Cradle Compatible With iPhone XS XS Max XR X 8 8+ 7 7+ SE 6s 6+ 6 5s 4 Samsung Galaxy S10 S9 S8 S7 S6 S5 S4 LG Nexus Nokia and More 

Do you like tattoos and if so, what would you get? How do you find that great tattoo artist to tattoo you?

Tattoos aren't for everyone, it's a decision anyone whose ever thought about getting one has to decide for him or herself. If you do choose to get one, where to begin? What exactly do you want? Maybe something you saw on someone else you admired that you thought looked cool? Or something you want to say about who you are, what you believe, or just something so simple and beautiful to you that you would proudly wear it indefinitely? Whatever the reason, it's as true an art form as it gets. I put a lot of thought into a tattoo I want. Most of the ones I've had done have a spiritual meaning to me. For instance, I had a Saint Michael the ArchAngel tattoo done on my left arm. Michael was the name I was supposed to have, and he was who God commanded to send the fallen angel lucipher to hell. The artist who did that tattoo recently died of an overdose, may he rest in peace. Most recently, I had 3 tattoos done by a very talented tattoo artist here in Bakersfield, CA. His name is Garrett Feliz, you can find him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/garrett.feliz It was by sheer luck that I met him, he happens to be dating my niece. He works for True Grit Tattoo Company, which can also be found on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/TrueGritTattooCompany/ Getting back to the tattoos, all 3 I've had done have very special meanings to me. The first was a portrait of my son when he was in middle school, he must have been about 12 or 13 at the time. Garrett confessed that it was the very first non-famous person he'd ever tattooed and was worried that it might not turn out well. Well..it turned out way better than anticipated, in fact it was an incredible likeness of my son! The next was a combination of Roman numerals, a clock and a rose...the Roman numerals are of the year I was born, the clock designates the time I was born and the rose is a symbol of my family surname. The third tattoo is a Latin saying, VERITAS AEQUITAS, meaning "truth and justice." The meaning is self-explanatory to me but some people equate the phrase to a cult film entitled, The Boondock Saints, which I have yet to see...but a film I will see soon. I have another tattoo appointment with Garrett soon, and I'll share it with you once it's done. In the meantime, here are 2 of my most recent tattoos done by Garrett Feliz. Check out his artwork and if you are interested in getting a high quality tattoo at a reasonable price, and you are in the Bakersfield, CA area I highly recommend him...just make sure you book him at least a month in advance. DL
PS.  Here's a link to my latest "FAITH HOPE LOVE" tattoo with a rose, https://www.instagram.com/p/B1PhCXIguDU/