Cedar Trail Music: News

Looking Back
Just wanted to say hello and thanks to all of the great people we met and worked with in our journeys across North America in 2007. Throughout our travels, we covered ground in Charlotte, NC; Austin, TX; Harlingen, TX; Dallas, TX; San Francisco, CA; Nashville, TN; Boston, MA; Vancouver, BC; Winnipeg, MB; and right here at home in Southern Ontario. We met some great people, worked with some good talent and had an all around year. The level of talent out there never ceases to amaze.

Thanks Austin for the hospitality
Our thanks go out to all the great musicians and folks we met while in Austin in August. It's pretty clear why Austin is known as the live music capital of the world (and we particularly like the dedicated loading/unloading lane for musicians on Sixth Street).

Sixth Street, Austin, TX All in all it was a very worthwhile trip for Cedar Trail (the fact that the Austin Hot Sauce Festival was on and the UT Longhorns had their season opener while we were in town were added bonuses). Thanks go out to everyone at the University Co-op and the Four Seasons. Also, special thanks go out to Ryan at Allen's Boots on South Congress for helping us out with some great new boots. If you visit Austin, be sure to drop by Allen's Boots!

Are you a country music artist looking for a place to start?
Cedar Trail Music is actively embarking on finding the best new country music talent out there for potential development projects with Cedar Trail Music.

If you sing country, no matter what level you are currently pursuing, consider taking a few moments to put together a demo kit.

We would like to hear from established acts and complete newcomers alike. So don't be shy. Remember the old saying: nothing ventured, nothing gained. We know you're out there!

So if you have any questions, feel free to drop us an e-mail, or simply send a demo kit with some sort of brief bio and promo photo (any decent snapshot will do) to one of our offices. You can find the addresses here.

Make this the year that you take the first step to potentially seeing your dreams become reality. We may be able to help you on your way. (1 Feb 2006)

Business Plans -- all the rage
Based on our work volume for the year so far, it seems that business plans for musicians are all the rage, and that is a good thing according to CTM President, Mike Belobradic.

"Business plans may seem like a dry, boring or unnecessary thing to some musicians, but they are a great way to force you to focus on what you really want to get out of your musical career," said Mike. "Without a plan, you likely don't have a written roadmap for how to get where you want to be. We've seen too many musicians who simply are hoping for big break, without a solid plan in place."

If you are looking for distribution or investment funding, you should not underestimate the value of having a business plan. "Musicians need to remember that this is their job -- their career. Too often we meet musicians who feel almost apologetic about thinking about their artform in these terms," said Mike. "But there is no shame in showing potential investors or distributors that you take seriously what you are doing. These are business people and they like to see that you take your business seriously too."

CT Demo Studio moves to MAC
We have just completed shifting our music demo studio to a MAC environment. This will provide us with greater flexibility in creating top-line demos and practice tracks. Cedar Trail is not a full-bore recording studio (nor do we want to be), however, we are now equipped with the latest MAC hardware and recording software making it convenient to record demo songs and monitor tracks for review during coaching and practice sessions. In addition, running on our new MAC platform will make it much simpler to port tracks over to a professional studio, should we wish to do. This is definitely one investment that all of our staff and artists will be pleased to see! (Nov 2006)