ANNOUNCEMENTS

ANNOUNCEMENTS

THE NEXT Xband

February 08, 2025, 03:37 PM

  

https://sonicspotlight.com/events/25nextxband

Tonight - we're announcing a reworked promotion to form The Next Xband.

Over the last 15 years, there are untold musicians across our region who have earned scholarships or found professional ways of making a living as musicians - but if you remember reading about or even hearing about it, that case is the exception.  Sadly, seeing it recognized and celebrated by local news media or schools is just as uncommon…if not more so.

In 2006, Xband was formed - eventually bringing a positive and impossible-to-ignore experience to regional public high school musicians.  It was eventually invited to perform in Cleveland and Columbus, at the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame and in storied clubs in both cities.

Xband is back, and extended to public high school musicians from CRAWFORD, SENECA, HURON, RICHLAND, MORROW, MARION and WYANDOT counties (OH).

Registrations and submissions will be accepted until The Next Xband is staffed with motivated, accomplished musicians from across our region, and for the next four months, we’re combining our efforts to form The Next Xband with another promotion we’re passionate about.

There aren’t many young musicians interested in learning to play guitar - which is another thing we’ve been working on for the last 5-6 years.  This time, we’re inviting the FIRST qualifying musician to send a submission to join The Next Xband from each of the next four months (starting in January) to WIN a guitar.  Here are the rules:

  • Follow Sonic Spotlight Productions on Facebook and/ or Instagram
  • Attend a face-to-face program in Bucyrus at 7:30PM on March 13, April 10, May 8, or June - accompanied by a parent/ guardian.
  • Bring 1-2 entry-eligible friends with you who play saxophone, trumpet, or trombone. They must be in Grades 8 through 11, they must also follow Sonic Spotlight Productions on Facebook and/ or Instagram - and also be accompanied by a parent/ guardian.
  • There are four guitars.  You can only win once…but submissions sent earlier in the promotion will have the opportunity to pick from more guitars.

If it seems like its almost impossible to NOT win the guitar, don’t be:  it IS almost impossible.

For details, questions, or concerns, please send a DM, or visit us at sonicspotlight.com.

STREAMING NOW

December 29, 2024, 08:00 PM


https://music.apple.com/us/artist/xband/1765216096

STANDBY

December 22, 2024, 08:00 PM

 https://sonicspotlight.com/countdown

MUSIC AVAILABILITY ON STREAMING SERVICES

December 07, 2024, 02:59 PM

By now, you may have noticed that we have some music by Xband and ALEX MURPHY PROJECT_ available on most of the major streaming services.  If you haven't, please check them out at:

https://linktr.ee/sonicspotlightproductions

(After clicking the link, scroll to the bottom for the links to the profiles on Apple Music & Spotify)

The earliest of these songs has been available since this past August.  Recording, editing, mixing, and mastering (so they sound decent on most of the types of speakers most of the types of people use) all come with a significant cost, but lets pretend they didn't for the purposes of this post.

Licensing and distributing a cover song costs $12 - 20 per year.  Currently, we have 5 songs available on the streaming services with #6 on the way.  When it's all said and done we will have paid $96 for these songs to be available.

Currently, each play is earning around $0.01 (it's actually very slightly less).  If they were original songs, they would be earning very slightly more.  In our case - and remember we're only pretending there isn't a cost for recording, editing, mixing, and mastering - it would take 9600 plays across all six songs just to break even for the costs of licensing and distribution.

Since August, we have just over 200 plays across all platforms.  We are not in any way expecting to turn a profit from streaming plays.

All of the currently available ALEX MURPHY PROJECT_ tracks will expire during the Fall of 2025.  The Xband tracks will expire by the end of December in 2025, but we may consider relicensing them on special occasions - ie. in the Summers when the songs have 5, 10, 15, etc. -year anniversaries of their original releases.  However...we can't offer any guarantees of that happening.

What can you do?  Two things:

1.  In the case of the Xband music...you can share and stream the songs a whole lot and hope we'll reach a point where they at least break even.

2.  In the case of the ALEX MURPHY PROJECT_ music, you can share and buy the songs from iTunes/ Amazon for $0.99.

In the current environment, recordings have assumed the role of a sonic business card, and we're not sure you won't start to see recordings by major artists disappearing periodically so that the event of re-releasing them earns some additional plays.  This probably isn't how it SHOULD work...but it is how it DOES work - at least for the time being.

EXCLUSIVE EARLY REGISTRATION FOR CRAWFORD COUNTY PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL MUSICIANS HAS CLOSED

September 30, 2024, 08:00 PM


 

EXCLUSIVE EARLY REGISTRATION FOR CRAWFORD COUNTY (OH) PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL MUSICIANS ENDS 24H FROM NOW

September 29, 2024, 08:00 PM

https://sonicspotlight.com/countdown/

***ATTENTION PARENTS OF CRAWFORD COUNTY PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL MUSICIANS***

September 23, 2024, 11:13 AM

In the Spring of 2017, I experienced an inflection point.

Xband had completed a successful run of shows, and had finally accepted what was necessary to prepare at that level.

Xband would eventually be a victim of unfavorable enrollment trends and policies
The surrounding community was ripe with skilled and/ or talented musicians capable of keeping that torch lit.

You can witness that at many of the music performances in many of our county’s schools, but you can also witness it in performances at area churches and community theater productions…but what you CAN'T witness is what would happen if all of these incredible musicians were willing to come together.
There are too many opportunities in our county to divide our student musicians, and exactly zero that combine their skills and talents.  Artificial divisions of young people are unhealthy, and the adults that foster those divisions in the name of “healthy competition” are actually contributing to that division for self-serviing reasons.

Unfortunately, the promotion to recruit members for “The Next Xband” has arrived at the ONE-WEEK-TO-DEADLINE mark with only ONE Crawford County public high school musician registered.
During this initial stage of the promotion we’ve learned that for every music teacher who has encouraged their students to explore this opportunity, there are just as many who have pretended not to know about it or have outright discouraged their students from joining.

We’ve also learned that a climate seems to exist that opportunities available in “our own backyard” tend to be discounted, disregarded, or taken for granted because we’ve seen that in practice.  We have 8 messages asking about when eligibility for this promotion will expand outside of Crawford County as proof of that statement.  It's an option we didn’t want to have to consider - but in one week we won’t have a choice.

We hope you'll help us keep this here - and we hope you'll help us find out what a group of united, motivated Crawford County high school musicians can do TOGETHER.

Xband ALUMNI REUNION ON 10/19/2024

September 23, 2024, 11:10 AM

Please see the posts on Facebook and Instagram if you're interested in more details.