2013/2014 Media Kit

SPRING 2014

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Maroon Weekly is the essential weekly print and daily online guide to making the most out of life in Bryan/College Station.

Our audience relies on us to figure out where to go, what to do, and how to get the inside scoop on what’s happening.

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Listen – With the most current, informed, and comprehensive coverage of the region’s music scene, featuring interviews and previews of the some best local, national, and international musicians.

Play – With the region’s most diverse events, from 2-stepping to salsa dancing, from painting classes to world fairs—Maroon Weekly provides the most comprehensive events listing in the Brazos Valley.

Look – With the smartest criticism and reviews of film, theater, dance productions, and more—all compiled in an extensive guide which answers the “what, where, and when” unlike any other publication in the region.

Taste – With reviews of some of the region’s most popular restaurants, bars, bakeries, desserteries, and more. Get the scoop on what and where to eat.

Think – With thought-provoking editorial and exclusive interviews with today’s leading scholars, public figures, and celebrities. We engage our audience in the world around them with unique content each week.

Since its founding in 2004, Maroon Weekly has grown into a vibrant, loyal community of readers.

Maroon Weekly has thousands of readers each week in print and online - and our audience continues to grow every week.

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Maroon Weekly is forward thinking; we understand where 21st-century “readers” consume their media. In a digital age, print publications have to adapt or die as more and more people make their consumption decisions on the web. But what if you could merge both worlds together seamlessly and capture an audience across the entire spectrum? You can. And we do.

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Spring 2014 Print Schedule Issue:

Publish Date:

Ad Deadline:

Welcome Back

Jan 15

Jan 10

Performer Series

Jan 22

Jan 17

Music/Venue Guide

Jan 29

Jan 24

Performer Series

Feb 5

Jan 31

Aggieland Saturday

Feb 12

Feb 7

Food/Dining Guide

Feb 19

Feb 14

Spring Break Guide

Feb 26

Feb 21

Best of BCS

March 5

Feb 28

Performer Series

March 12

March 7

Free Concert @ Rudder Auditorium

M

Mayer Hawthorne and Ben Rector are coming to town to help the MSC open grandly. Not only is it awesome that two high caliber musicians are visiting TAMU, but the best part is that it’s absolutely free. Each valid student ID can get two tickets at the MSC Box Office (located on the first floor of Rudder Tower) beginning at 10am on Monday, August 27.

The concert, presented by MSC Town Hall, will take place in Rudder Auditorium at 7 p.m. on Saturday, September 1.

by Ike Ntube

Hawthorne’s sound has been described as “retro soul,” inspired by pre80s-era soul and sounds that reach back to the vinyl your parents’ parents listened to. His music is vintage and yet familiar; but there’s nothing old about it.

His first album “How Do You Do” peaked at #4 on Filter Magazine’s list of Top 10 Albums of 2011. He’s also been endorsed by standout artists like Snoop Dogg (who is even featured on his album), Kanye West, Justin Timberlake, and John Mayer.

Ben Rector’s diligence is proving to be very rewarding for him as he grows in fame. He’s not quite a household name yet, but without doing any real advertising, his most recent album “Something Like This” climbed to #4 on the iTumes album chart—higher than Lil Wayne’s “Tha Carter IV” (and we all know how high Lil Wayne can get).

Rector’s been influenced by The Beatles, James Taylor, Randy Newman, Billy Joel, and Spoon.

His classic pop sound compliments Hawthorne’s well, as they both have pop influences and strong, resonating voices.

You can find more information at ourmsc. tamu.edu/openingconcert.

LISTEN

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pg 8 | maroonweekly.com | 8.29.12

DIY Alive and Kicking @ SXSW Music

by Chris Zebo

Housing Guide

March 19

March 14

It's official: The recording industry is dead as we knew it.

We'd been sitting by the hospital bed, waiting for that last gasp; had our eyes on the EKG, watching the neon ribbons flatten across the screen. We ruminated on how it could survive so long in an age of file sharing, how it would outlast the musician's freedom to promote their own music on the Internet, their ability to sell albums via personal websites, to organize their own tours, to produce and sell their own merchandise.

Performer Series

March 26

March 21

But it happened. The recording industry was finally delivered into the annals of history last week at SXSW. Dave Grohl made the pronouncement at this year's keynote address.

And this isn't the first time he's called the time of death; over 20 years ago, Nirvana delivered the hair bands into rock heaven. But this time, it wasn't his fault.

Chilifest Guide

April 2

March 28

Now you're probably thinking, “The recording industry is still alive. It has to be, in some way, or else we wouldn't be getting our music.” It's true. Goliath record labels continue to draft long form contracts and sign musicians. They also operate one of the largest promotional networks on the planet.

But that's not important anymore. They're not relevant. They don't decide who or what you listen to. Because a new recording industry has taken over. It's the musician. The musician is the new EMI, the new Virgin Records.

“

Parent’s Weekend April 9 April 4 City Guide

April 16

April 11

Performer Series

April 23

April 18

Perfomer Series

April 30

April 25

Graduation/Summer Guide May 7

May 2

707 TEXAS STE. 207D, COLLEGE STATION, TX 77840

I am the musician and I come first.

- Dave Grohl, 2013 SXSW Keynote Address

“I am a musician and I come first,” Grohl asserted defiantly at this year's keynote. The Foo Fighters front-man fronted his token audacity and bluntness throughout his entire hourlong speech, admonishing future musicians to do it themselves.

“At 13 years old, I realized I could start my own band. I could write my own song, I could record my own record. I could start my own label. I could release my own record. I could book my own shows. I could write and publish my own fanzine. I could silk-screen my own T-shirt. I could do this all myself.”

Grohl introduced the music segment of SXSW 2013 last Wednesday by setting a tone that reverberated beyond the convention center's walls. Sharing numerous anecdotes from his storied music career—from discovering punk rock and the creative liberation it instilled, to reflections on Nirvana and the band's unexpected rise to fame—a reminiscent Grohl looked forward through the rear view mirror and imparted lessons the not-so-elder rock statesmen learned from a different era. Something very special from that era, he impressed, had been lost, though: the individual.

The digital age promised artists unprecedented freedom to create and distribute their music. It presented musicians with a platform to expose themselves to millions of listeners with the click of a mouse. But something was forsaken in the optimism. Music wasn't getting better; talented artists weren't being discovered any faster. And even though advances in digital sound engineering had streamlined the recording process, overproduction and tools such as auto tune were stripping musicians of their genuine voices—literally.

Grohl didn't exactly call for a return to the analog days, of reel-to-reel tape, of soundboards with toggles that engineers manipulated with their hands. However, he did call for musicians to return to their basements and garages to jam together. He implored the next generation of musicians to play in the same room and to get from behind their computer screens and recording software.

In tandem with his keynote address, Grohl was also in town to promote his documentary, Sound City. The film chronicles the rise and fall of Sound City Studios, a now legendary (thanks to Grohl) analog recording studio which produced some of the biggest albums from some of the biggest musicians, such as Fleetwood Mac, Neil Young, Rick Springfield, and Tom Petty. It was also the studio where Nirvana recorded Nevermind, the album which transformed the entire music world and inspired a new generation of artists.

At the film's screening, Grohl was joined on the red carpet by veterans of the analog era who'd recorded in the studio and who were also featured in the documentary.

Rick Springfield told us the film was an “important story because of how music used to be made.” He bemoans the current music production atmosphere, in which musicians are thinking too much and tweaking gadgets when they should really be playing music together.

“You get out there and you play until you got it right,” Springfield said, “and that was it. You can't do much about it afterward. [Sound City] is not really a story about tape versus digital, it's more about just getting in there and creating something real. I hope it gets people playing music together again, worrying less about technology, what you can make it, and just doing it.”

- Buckminster Fuller

Grohl was just as adamant. “The core of the movie is that the human element of music is what makes music so special,” he said.

But when we asked him what has been lost in the digital age, he seemed flummoxed for the appropriate response. After a few false starts, he responded with conviction. “There's no right or wrong. Electronic music is awesome, and acoustic music is awesome—music in general is awesome.

The best thing about music is the artist and a voice behind whatever's happening. And when I say voice, it could be the way that you play guitar, the way that you play the drums—it doesn't have to necessarily be your voice; but it's the person behind whatever medium or instrument that makes music exciting.”

The human element, according to Grohl, isn't something that should be produced out of the musician. It has to retain its signature authenticity, warts and all. “I would rather hear a drummer that sucks this bad, and a drummer that sucks this bad, than something that's completely inhuman and perfect. I like the sound of the human being. The advantage of digital technology is awesome.

Anybody here can go home and make a movie or a record—anybody can do it, it's inspiring. But the idea is that you respect and retain your voice. Don't worry about sounding like someone else, don't let someone change the way you sound. Be yourself and sound the way you sound, because there is no right or wrong.”

A couple of hours before Grohl arrived on the red carpet, another musician presented a documentary equally entrenched in the zeitgeist of the music industry. Actor and musician Jared Leto screened Artifact, a documentary he directed in 2010 which premiered at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival. The film's original premise was to simply capture Leto and his 30 Seconds to Mars bandmates as they wrote and recorded a new album. However, early in the filming, the band was notified that their label, EMI, was suing them for 30 million dollars for breach of contract. The documentary, which won a People's Choice Award at the Toronto festival and the Audience Award at the 2012 Gotham Independent Film Awards, follows the band as they attempt to write music under extreme pressure and settle their outrageous litigation.

Although Sound City and Artifact are not exactly blood relatives thematically, they're not-so-distant cousins for their thought-provoking meditations on the future of the music industry. When we asked Leto what advice he would give to the over 2,000 bands performing at SXSW eager for a record deal, he said, “I would say put off getting a record deal as long as you can. Do as much as you can yourself. It's easier, quicker, cheaper than ever to make and distribute music. Take advantage of that. The longer you do that, the more power you'll have when you sign a deal.”

pg 8 | maroonweekly.com | 03.20.13

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THINK

03.20.13 | maroonweekly.com | pg 9

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