Creative Digital Music

WOMEX 2017 – Stand number 5

karen
23/10/2017
0

Birnam International Music Promotion – We’re packed and ready to go – 2 of our team are off to WOMEX!

WOMEX is THE international networking platform for the World Music industry. This year’s event is in Katowice, Poland from October 25th – 29th and, as ever, a huge number of key industry personnel from around the world will gather together, seeking new music to distribute and new artists to introduce to audiences via festivals, concert tours, television, film, radio, press and digital platforms worldwide. Approximately 2,900 delegates attend WOMEX each year and for networking and exposure opportunities, WOMEX is one of the best.

We have the privilege of working with a huge range of extremely talented musicians, many of whom are independent. A few years ago, following requests from a couple of artists, we launched our Birnam PR service. To date, we have concentrated largely on promotion across the UK & Northern Ireland, with some additional international promotion. However, again, following requests from artists we are launching our international promotional package this year.

We have coordinated, designed and produced a compilation album – ‘Northern Lights’, featuring ten artists who we have had the pleasure of working with and supporting over the years – the album will be included in every WOMEX delegate bag. We’ve designed Northern Lights promotional leaflets and posters for our WOMEX Birnam stand (number 5) and will be giving away further copies of the promotional album.

The October 2107 WOMEX edition of fROOTS magazine has a free download featuring different tracks from each of the artists, a 2-page editorial and a 2 full-page advertisement featuring each of the artists – fRoots magazine is available digitally and hard copies will also be included in each WOMEX delegate bag.

To find out more about each of the artists on the Northern Lights album please visit Northern Lights.

If you’re at WOMEX please come and say hello – you can find us at stand 5.

Creative Live Music Music

Help Musicians UK Fusion Fund

karen
25/09/2017
0

Advice and information about the new Help Musicians UK Fusion Fund

For all Scotland-based artists, have you got an innovative idea to expand your creative practice working collaboratively with other art forms or sectors? The Fusion Fund offers £2,000 – £5,000 towards developing and testing new work. The Scottish Music Centre are holding various advice sessions where you can attend in person, or, alternatively they can also offer advice over the phone or via Skype. The deadline for applications for Round 1 is 12th October 2017. To find out more visit Scottish Music Centre.

 

Creative Digital Live Music Music

Nurturing Talent – Time to Shine Fund

karen
11/07/2017
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‘Nurturing Talent – Time to Shine Fund’

Young Scot and Creative Scotland’s ‘Nurturing Talent – Time to Shine Fund’

The fund aims to support young people aged 14-20 who are interested in developing skills in one of the following areas:

Drama – Dance – Music – Film – Visual Arts – Literature – Digital Arts

Who can apply – Anyone aged 14-20, living in Scotland. Both individuals and groups can apply for funding ranging from £50- £600.

The deadlines for applications are: 28th August 2017, 9th October 2017

For more information visit young.scot

Creative Live Music Music

Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2017

karen
12/06/2017
0

BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician 2018 – Open for entries.

The BBC Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year opened for entries on May 25th. The annual music competition, established in 2001, aims to encourage and support young musicians who are pursuing a career in traditional music.

The award is open to individual musicians aged between 16 – 27 years who currently stay in Scotland. The closing date is Friday 7th July 2017.

Entrants must submit:

  • A 10 minute recording of themselves playing traditional Scottish music
  • A short written biography and
  • A short written paragraph about their interest in traditional music.

Entries are judged on Technical ability (intonation, rhythm, timing, ornamentation) and Performance skills (connection with the audience, choice of repertoire, balance of programme, pace, appropriate length of performance).

A panel of judges will review all entries and select a shortlist of 12 to take part in the semi- finals which will take place over the weekend 7-8th October. A panel of judges will select 6 finalists who will then be invited to perform at the final which will be held in Glasgow on 25th January 2018 as part of Celtic Connections Festival.

For more information and to apply please visit the event’s website.

 

Live Music Music

Scottish Jazz Awards 2017

karen
22/05/2017
0

 

We’re delighted to be sponsoring the Scottish Jazz Best Album Award. Glasgow International Jazz Festival in association with Hands Up for Trad will be hosting the 5th Scottish Jazz Awards during the closing evening of the 31st Festival on Sunday 25th June. Following an absence of 4 years the Awards are being revived with an aim to celebrate Scotland’s vibrant jazz scene and support acts and talent across the country.

A nominating panel comprised of press, media, and promoters from across the Scottish Jazz music scene were chosen to select the shortlist for each of the 5 awards. You can now decide the winner by voting for your favourite in each of the 5 categories below. The voting period runs until 5pm on Friday 2nd June. The winners will be announced at the Awards ceremony in City of Music Studio at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.

Categories:

  1. Best Vocalist Award – sponsored by The Brunswick Hotel
  2. Best Band/Ensemble Award – sponsored by Glasgow UNESCO City of Music
  3. Best Instrumentalist Award – sponsored by ESP Music Rentals
  4. Rising Star Award – sponsored by Musicians’ Union
  5. Best Album Award – sponsored by Birnam CD

VOTE HERE

Creative Live Music Music

Hit The Road 2017

karen
10/05/2017
0

Hit The Road is a touring project for 14-19 year old aspiring performers who are at an early stage in their music making. Hit the Road will present five tours of Scotland, themed by music genre. Participants are also invited to training workshops with industry professionals covering all aspects of the reality of touring, while there will also be training opportunities for young people wishing to try out support roles such as sound engineering and stage technicians.

Each tour will take three acts on the road, with each act taking the headline slot to their home town crowd.

Online registration is now open for those who are:

  • aged 14-19
  • living in Scotland
  • involved in any kind of music making
  • interested in learning about and developing their own musical career

To find out more and apply, please visit Hit The Road

Creative Music

Record Store Day 2017

karen
06/04/2017
0

CD Duplication

Record Store Day came into being in 2007 when over 700 independent stores in the USA came together to celebrate their unique culture. Record Store Day provides a platform for independently owned record stores to come together with artists to celebrate the art of music and support local communities. Special vinyl and CD releases and various promotional products are made exclusively for the day and hundreds of artists across the globe make special appearances and performances. Festivities include performances, meet & greets with artists, DJ’s, in store quizzes and many other events. For Star Wars fans, Crosley is launching a special Star Wars Record turntable. http://www.crosleyradio.com/press/star-wars-turntable/

A Record Store Day participating store is defined as a physical retailer whose product line consists of at least 50% music whose company is not publicly owned. Record Store Day is about real, live, physical, indie record stores – not online retailers or large corporations.

There’s quite a few record stores across Scotland so have a look to see what’s happening locally and visit http://recordstoreday.co.uk/home/ to find out more.

http://www.mixeduprecords.com/  

http://www.monorailmusic.com/  

https://www.facebook.com/LPglasgow/  

http://voxboxmusic.co.uk/  

http://www.undergroundsolushn.com/  

http://www.concordemusic.com/

Creative Live Music Music Uncategorized

SAY Award – 2017

karen
13/03/2017
0

Scottish Album of The Year 2017

The 2017 SAY Award was launched on 1st March and is open until the 31st March. Artists, labels and the general public have the chance to submit albums for consideration. All genres and styles are welcome, from self-released albums to major label releases, from rock and pop to jazz and classical. Eligible albums must be commercially released between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2017. For more details on the process and to register an eligible album, please visit www.sayaward.com.

The SAY Award is a prestigious and exciting arts prize produced by the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA), the award celebrates and promotes the most outstanding Scottish albums released each year. The winner receives £20,000 and nine runner ups receive £1,000 each. 

Live Music Music

Landmark Award

karen
27/02/2017
0

Birnam CD receives Hands Up For Trad’s Landmark Award

We’re all very chuffed here at Birnam having just become the latest recipients of a Hands Up For Trad “Landmark Award” in recognition of us having navigated our way through the ever-changing channels of the music business for over 30 years.

We’ve been on the go since 1986, initially as “Birnam Tapes”, Scotland’s first real-time cassette duplication facility. “Birnam Tapes” offered Scottish-based artists the option of small-scale music production at a time when the possibility of releasing independent self-financed albums was just beginning to nudge into the outer edges of a working musician’s budget. The deeply-ingrained and seldom questioned edict that you had to be “on a label” to release an album was still prevalent, but musicians were becoming more confident about doing things for themselves rather than handing over control of their music (and, often, their careers and finances) to others.

The word got around pretty fast and we were soon churning out batches of cassette albums for a wide range of artists from all over the UK.

We began to receive increasingly regular requests to supply albums on CD. It was clear that CD would soon be the new standard and we needed to respond, so we struck deals with a couple of major European pressing plants. In a highly sleekit move, the name of the business “Birnam Cassette Duplication” (once the transition was complete) was seamlessly abbreviated to “Birnam CD”.

As our list of clients grew, we were repeatedly asked if we could help with other aspects and tasks that need to be taken care of once an album is completed so we are now “BIRNAM – CD / PR / DESIGN / ONLINE”. We don’t just offer CD, DVD and vinyl pressing and design for packaging, we also offer a full graphic design service for tour posters, flyers, social media graphics and other band merchandise, downloads & streaming, online CD sales (worldwide via our own shop and Amazon), physical distribution and – most significantly in recent years – music promotion.

Of all the additional services independent musicians need, PR may well be the most vital. We introduced our range of media promotion packages about 5 years ago, to help artists get their music heard more widely, and it has organically grown to become a hugely significant part of what we now do. It’s extremely satisfying to see a top-notch independently-released album we have promoted be named “album of the week” on a national radio show or gain a 5-star press review. In response to very positive feedback and encouragement from the artists we have worked with, we are now expanding the range and scope of our PR services to reach media hotspots and audiences internationally.

Martin will be participating in the forthcoming Trad Talk event at the Tolbooth, Stirling on Sunday 11th March. Tickets available from  https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/trad-talk-tickets-31941761669

Creative Design Digital Music Posts

CD Pressing, Design for CD Packaging and Social Media Graphics, Music Promotion, Digital Distribution, Social Media Support and more… Birnam Case Study

karen
01/02/2017
0

CD Pressing, Design for CD Packaging and Social Media Graphics, Music Promotion, Digital Distribution, Social Media Support and more… Birnam Case Study

We’ve been working with independent musicians for over 30 years now and consider ourselves very privileged to be able to continue to work with a huge number of dedicated and talented musicians. We know that sustaining a career in the music industry is not easy and we like to think that we offer a complete service, supporting artists through all the stages of an album release and beyond.

A few folks have said that they thought we only offered CD, DVD and Vinyl pressing (well, we have built a reputation for that over the years). We actually do a whole lot more, so we’re introducing a few case studies to demonstrate and explain about the broad range of services that we offer.

The first case study features Liza Mulholland, an independent musician based north of Inverness. Liza came to us early in 2016 when she was planning her debut solo album. She wanted to have physical CDs in attractive packaging to sell at her gigs but also fancied the idea of the album being available to download and stream. She was keen to achieve widespread radio airplay as well as press and online reviews for her work. We discussed various packaging, design and promotion options and put together a full package covering all of Liza’s requirements.

You can read the case study HERE.

Liza gave us some really nice feedback, here’s a short excerpt:

‘Although technology and the internet have revolutionised the music business, making it much easier for musicians to release their own music, it still involves a lot of work. To be aided throughout the process, and relieved of much of the stress and hassle, has been a huge benefit and one that I would highly recommend. Self-releasing a solo album can feel a wee bit lonesome, with the burden of the whole project on your own shoulders; with Birnam CD at my side I felt like they were taking care of everything for me. Even better than that, I’m now getting nice reviews coming in and plays on radio stations I previously didn’t even know existed!’

Look out for a few further case studies over the coming year. We welcome, listen and pay attention to all feedback and we’re constantly striving for ways to build on and improve our services. In 2016 we revamped our website to make it more ‘user friendly’ and easier to navigate. We’ll be continuing to streamline and build on our range of services in the coming year and beyond, so please drop us an email with any suggestions or comments.