Michael Dyer: News

My 8th CD is BLUES BRULEE. It consists of 12 soft blues songs and one instrumental track. Most songs feature harmonica and guitar as lead instruments.

New CD: Blues Souffle just released July 13, 2010 on CDBaby.com! It contains 12 soft-blues songs, an instrumental piece and one country song. This CD features harmonica as a lead instrument.

Nov. 6, 2009: New CD Christmas Comes Just Once A Year was just released on CDBaby.com! It contains 10 folk-rock and soft-blues Yuletide-related songs and 2 New Years-related songs.

Different songs from my five CDs are available for streaming at these different sites: SoundClick, Artistopia, RadioIndy, iLike, AirPlayDirect, SongVault, Indie-Music, GarageBand, Facebook, ReverbNation, and MyMusicStream. For links to my music within those sites, please go to the "Links" area.

This CD was released May 12, 2008 on CDBaby.com. It contains 12 songs. Both lyrics and 2-minute samples of each song are available in the Music area. The album cover can be seen in the Photos area.

I received a very nice email from RadioIndy.com, which states:

"We screen thousands of songs by indie artists and name the best artists RadioIndy.com Gold Artists. We focus on musicianship, songwriting and recording quality when determining your Gold artist status. Congratulations - You are a Radioindy Gold Artist!"

This CD was released Feb. 5, 2008 on CDBaby.com. It contains 12 songs. Both lyrics and 2-minute samples of each song are available in the Music area. The album cover can be seen in the Photos area.

iLike is a new music-listening/ranking website that is linked to Garageband.com, so the same 3 songs that are there are now available for streaming at www.iLike.com. Just go there and search for "Michael Dyer" or for any of the following songs: "Mid' Moss-Covered Boulders", "What's the Right Avenue?" or "The Trek".

It's fun to report that the CD Aboriginal Angel has been requested by radio stations all over the world, with CDs shipped to the following countries:

Central African Republic: Joy Radio 89.6 FM
Netherlands: Radio 0162
Estonia: Eesi Raadio
Columbia: UIS Stereo
Australia: Valley FM 89.5; PBS FM; Radio 3ZZZ; 2NVR 105.9FM; 93.3FM; Radio Fremantle 107.9FM; Triple H 96.5FM
New Zeland: Soundwave FM
France: Virus De Blues
Italy: Radio Gold Popular Network
Macedonia: Radio 2, 94.1FM Radio
Germany: Radio Kanal; Radio Unerhört; Deutschlandraio Kultur
Poland: Jazz Radio FM
Italy: Radio Incontrol
Greece: Greek Radio 2
Canada: CFBX Radio
Luxembourg: Radio LU

The concentration of requests in Australia is probably due to the fact that the title song "Aboriginal Angel" contains the didgeridoo as a lead instrument.

I have uploaded 6 songs to AmieStreet.com. This is a music downloading site that has a very interesting approach to rewarding music buyers and to helping unknown artists get recognition for their music.

When a song is first uploaded by an artist to AmieStreet.com anyone can buy it for free, but as more people buy it, the purchase price of the song rises. For example, the first 14 buyers will get the song for free, but the 15th buyer will have to pay 1 cent (since the song is now a bit more popular). The 30th buyer will have to pay 20 cents. The highest price for downloading any song is 98 cents, which occurs after 84 purchases of that song. So each song's purchase-price automatically rises (from free to a max of 98 cents) based on demand, but that's not all.

Buyers are rewarded for recommending songs to the AmieStreet listener community. Every time a purchaser recommends a song, the recommender gets CREDs, which are credits toward purchasing other songs. The amount of CREDs a recommender receives is based on how much a song has advanced in price since that buyer recommended it. In general, the recommender gets half the difference between the price at recommend-time versus the price at CRED redeem-time. For example, if a buyer recommends a song when it is worth, say, 20 cents and spends the earned credit when that song has advanced to selling for 50 cents, then the recommender receives half the difference, which in this case would be: ½ (50-20) = 15 cents. As a special bonus, a listener who recommends a song when it is selling for free will be able to redeem the most CREDs when the song has advanced in popularity to being sold for the top price (98 cents). In this special case, the recommender earns all 98 cents.

So recommenders are rewarded the most for recommending songs that are least well known. At the same time, artists essentially give away their music (for free) while it is unknown but start to earn some income as the price rises (based on number of sales).

What keeps a recommender from recommending lousy songs? Well, lousy songs probably won't advance in popularity so the recommender would not get any CREDs and recommenders are rewarded the most for "discovering" unknown songs that will become popular. How does AmieStreet.com itself make any money? They pocket the first $5 of the sales of each song and 30% of each sale thereafter. As you can see, the whole approach is rather ingenious.

You can get my 3 songs downloaded for free (or for dirt cheap) if you go to AmieStreet.com as soon as possible and buy them before they get popular. The 3 songs are: Earthsong, Do You Want The You, and It's Your Soul, Oh Margot.

I received a very nice review by Dan MacIntosh (of www.Indi-Music.com). He compares me to: Roger McGuinn (of the Byrds), John McLaughlin (in Mahavishnu Orchestra), and folk singer/songwriter Gordon LIghtfoot. For excerpts of review and link to complete review, go to my Press area.

SongVault.fm is a website where artists can post up to 3 songs without charge and then listeners vote on them. SongVault contains 4 tiers. Songs enter at tier-1 (Showcase Radio) and if they survive that tier, then they get moved up to tier-2 (Indie Hit Radio) which has a maximum of 100 songs within a given genre. If they survive that tier then after a while they get moved up to tier-3 (Top Hits Radio) with a max of 50 songs within a given genre. If they survive tier-3 then songs can ultimately make it into tier-4, which is the top tier (SongVault Radio). This tier has an unlimited number of songs and once a song makes it into this tier, it is kept there permanently (kind of like a song "hall of fame").

Well, I've just been notified that all 3 of the songs I submitted back in March have now made it into tier-3! I just went there and at this moment, in tier-3 "The Dawn Is Still" is ranked #5, "The Coming Day" is ranked #6 and "As You Lay Down" is ranked #8 – all within the Folk genre. You can see this chart by going to: http://www.songvault.fm/charts/folk.htm
So please go to www.SongVault.fm and vote for my 3 songs so that they can make it into the top tier. You can do this by going to:
http://www.songvault.fm/artists/michael_dyer.htm After you click on a song title you will be shown both a thumb-up and thumb-down image and you vote simply by clicking on one. You have to create an account (there's no charge) and log-in before you can vote and then you can listen to all the songs by different artists within the different genres. So please vote.

Thanks!

After producing 3 CDs of folk-rock songs, I have composed my first strictly instrumental solo guitar piece, titled "Hummingbird in Flight". It is inspired by Rimsky-Korsakoff's "The Flight of the Bumble Bee". I hope you find it interesting. Let me know what you think. For more info. on this instrumental piece, click on its title in the music area. It is NOT part of any CD so I can change it at will and I welcome any comments or observations. I replaced the previous version with a new arrangement on 6/19/07. If you're a guitar player and you want to challenge yourself with learning how to play a very fast chromatic piece, then look in the Photo area, where you will find the music score for that piece. (Please get my permission before using it, or any of my songs, in any commercial venture, thanks!)

At this site I have 3 songs available for streaming. For the first time I checked that site's music charts to see how my songs were doing (on this date of 6/11/07). Using the filters: This-Month, Most-Played, All-Regions (of the world), and the category of Folk, my song "Sun Beneath the Ground" was ranked #1 (!) and under the Folk-Rock category it was ranked #7, which is also quite gratifying. Thanks to all of you who went to that site to listen to my songs! (These rankings are only for songs posted at that web site but, still, it's nice to appear near the top of any kind of rankings!)

Under the category of Alternative, my song "So Imminent" was ranked #19 (and ranked #32 under the Rock category). My song "Luck of the Night" is not doing as well. In the Alternative category it is currently #76; however, if I change the filter of Most-Played to Most-Recent then "Luck of the Night" becomes ranked #20, which hopefully indicates that, recently, more people are listening to it.

These song charts change as I look at them so if you go to: www.mymusicstream.com/music/ then you will mostly likely find different rankings. If I change a filter from This-Month to All-Time then, of course, my song rankings drop (because I have been at this site only a few months). In the Alternative category, my song "So Imminent" has an All-Time ranking of #89 while "Luck of the Night" is #94. But in the Folk category "Sun Beneath the Ground" has still done quite well, with an All-Time Folk ranking of #3 and a Folk-Rock ranking of #12 (for this date of 6/11/07).

Instead of song charts, one can choose to look at artist charts at: www.mymusicstream.com/artist/ Using the filters: This-Month, Most-Played, All-Regions I am ranked as #9 most-listened-to artist for both the Folk-Rock and Alternative music categories. Under the Rock category I am ranked #17. If I change the filter from This-Month to All-Time, then under Rock I'm ranked #39, under Alternative I'm #25, and under Folk-Rock I'm ranked #12. These rankings are due solely to you who have gone to this site to listen to the complete versions of my songs that are available there. Thanks so much!

I was interviewed live (over the phone) by an internet radio
station: ArtistFirst World Radio Network, on Tuesday, May 22, and some tracks from my CD "Aboriginal Angel" were also played. To hear this 1-hour long interview+songs, go to my Music area.

I received a very nice email from Douglas Newsom, the Co-Founder & CEO of BBSRadio.com. He said "I really enjoyed your music. The more I listened, the more I liked..." and he said that several songs (Our Unwinding Time, 'Mid Moss-Covered Boulders, Down to the Shore Tonight) "... will spin on the network." So please check out BBSRadio!

I have noticed music clips of all artists, that Amazon.com makes available, are of not very good quality. (iTunes quality is better.) The clips at both Amazon and iTunes are only 30 seconds long. (The clips of my songs at my website and at CDBaby.com are 2 minutes in length.)

Each song can now be downloaded from the iTunes Store for just 99 cents (or all 11 songs on a given CD, for just $9.99). To purchase, go to the Buy section of this website and click on the appropriate link.

(Or you can go to iTunes Store at: http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/music.html, click on "Start Shopping" and then enter "Michael Dyer" in the Query area. For those unfamiliar with the iTunes Store: If you click on a song title then you can hear a 30-second sample of that song.)

If you go to the Music area, you can now hear 2-minute samples of each song and if you click on a song title you will be able to see its lyrics. This CD is now available for purchase at CDBaby.com. A link to that site is in the Buy area.

If you go to the Music area, you can now hear 2-minute samples of each song and if you click on a song title you will be able to see its lyrics. This CD is now available for purchase at CDBaby.com. A link to that site is in the Buy area.

Please look in my Bio and you will see a list of artists that some listeners think I sound similar to. Please submit (either in Guestbook or via email) your brief description of any additional artist you think I sound a lot like (and why) and if I decide that you're "right on" then I will send you a free CD of my music!