It’s a very uncertain time at the moment,
to get paid for your music is getting harder, touring and gigging seems to be the only way of making a living in this business. But on the other hand there are now so many opportunities of getting your music heard through the internet, the very fact that I’m doing this interview, this couldn’t have happened without the exposure of the internet, and I have a lot of followers on my Facebook page and twitter which I promote my music to so there are pros and cons. I’m also looking at getting my songs into TV and film that is something I am very interested in @paulsweeney1970
Live Interview
Episode #343 : A.V.A Live Radio Behind The Music with Jacqueline Jax : http://www.blogtalkradio.com/avaliveradio/2016/07/21/episode-343-ava-live-radio-behind-the-music-with-jacqueline-jax
GETTING TO KNOW PAUL SWEENEY
by Jacqueline Jax host of A.V.A Live RadioPaul Sweeney
It’s a very uncertain time at the moment,
to get paid for your music is getting harder, touring and gigging seems to be the only way of making a living in this business. But on the other hand there are now so many opportunities of getting your music heard through the internet, the very fact that I’m doing this interview, this couldn’t have happened without the exposure of the internet, and I have a lot of followers on my Facebook page and twitter which I promote my music to so there are pros and cons. I’m also looking at getting my songs into TV and film that is something I am very interested in.
That’s a tough one, with the creation of iTunes, Spotify…etc.
the single seems to be more popular. Listeners have so much choice with literally millions of songs at their fingertips.
You need to have a strong song or interesting sound to stand out.
An album takes more patience it’s almost like a book, each song is a chapter. I have a vinyl collection at home and I love to put an album on the turntable and listen to it from start to finish, as the artist intended. It’s not like that with streaming or iTunes where you can just skip to the song you want, I’m not knocking it, everyone should have a choice, it’s just that an album should be like a story, it needs to be listened to in its entirety. If I had a preference I would love to release an album but I think in today’s world it would be easier to promote a single, especially through social media, to connect with the listener, get their attention initially.
Social media is invaluable for promoting your music,
how else would you be heard apart from your local area. I have a Facebook page which I get a lot of interaction on; I have a reverbnation site and a bandcamp site. I also use soundcloud and twitter. I know I probably could do a lot better at promoting my music like setting up my own website which I am looking at, but what I have done so far has worked quite well.
Van Morrison. I’m a massive fan of him;
the way he can write songs just takes you to another place. Astral Weeks I could listen to on repeat, its nearly 40 years old and it still sounds fresh. A true original and a Genius.
I think the music business has been guilty of seeing a trend and giving the audience the same product, if a band or artist doing a certain type of music gets popular then we get 10 more bands or artists doing the same thing until the fad dies out. Whatever is trendy and current, they seem to churn out similar acts without trying to break an act that is new and fresh.
John Coltrane – Damn the rules, it’s the feeling that counts.
I have been playing the guitar since I was 14 or 15 so I am over 30 years at it.
I picked up the guitar from my father who played as well. I have always had an interest in music and the guitar in particular; I found it quite easy to pick up, like the song says, I played it till my fingers bled. Everyone has to have a passion for something in life and mine is music, I get immersed in it, it can take you to another place and time. Like a lot of musicians in my part of the world, I played a lot of hits of the day covers and country stuff, but I always wanted to play my own songs. So in the last 2-3 years I found myself drawn into doing acoustic instrumentals, I have always written my own stuff but it’s only in the last year or so that I have released some of it.
Daybreak
This song is about how calm and peaceful
it can be early in the morning and how we should take that feeling into the day ahead, forget about any problems or stresses you may have and just live in the moment, the world we live in today could certainly benefit from it.
Support Artist: https://paulsweeney.bandcamp.com/track/daybreak-2
I try to walk most mornings in a forest
near where I live and one particular morning the weather was fantastic, the sun was out (a rarity here in Northern Ireland) all was still, there wasn’t a sound and I could hear this simple melody in my head, so I sang the tune into the voice recorder of my phone as I walked. When I got home I recorded it simply on an iPad with a mic and guitar using garage band and eventually it became the song you hear today.
When I write I try to write from the soul,
I try to get as much feeling and emotion into my music because that’s what I like to hear from other artists. For me, it’s not about how technically gifted you are as a musician, it’s about how you can move an audience or listener with emotion, sometimes all it takes is a few notes, some of the best songs are like that, simple tunes with three chords.
I live outside a town called Irvinestown in Co Fermanagh in Northern Ireland;
it’s a lovely part of the world with beautiful scenery and lakes. The music scene is dominated with Country or Irish Folk Rock acts doing cover stuff. Country music especially is very popular here in the North and South of Ireland as it has always been since the showband era of the 1960’s. There aren’t that many large venues where I live, mostly pubs and clubs, if you want to see the international acts; it’s usually Belfast or Dublin that they come to, two hours or so away. What I like to do away from music is follow my favorite football team Liverpool FC, I try to travel over to 3-4 games a year, I love that city and its people, the home of The Beatles, great place.
Social Media Links:
Reverbnation: https://goo.gl/deS7Ws
Facebook: https://goo.gl/Lt3kYk
Bandcamp: https://goo.gl/rhpEQ3
Soundcloud: https://goo.gl/twWNjt
Youtube: https://goo.gl/d9rN6Q
Twitter: https://goo.gl/AhWHH3