Plannning Requirements for Releasing a Music Product

One requirement is to find out your market that your aiming for and have a concept or an idea for what the album is going to be like or about before you start writing the music. It is important to find a place in making music that is what you want to do and is what the customer wants to hear. This is important because then you naturally without trying make music that is your target market and therefor more people will buy your music because its what they like.
In the Red Hot Chili Peppers case they don't really need to do this as they have made ten studio albums and although they have changed the sound of their music as they have gone on they know how to please fans and they have lots of loyal fans that would buy their music no matter what even if it was bad so basically they have a lot more freedom and are able to change their music and do it how they want it.

Also bands or artist will need to find a space to create all the music before going into a recording studio. This is important because then all they need to do in the recording studio is record and not waste time and money working things out and having unfinished songs. In the Chili Peppers case the made most of the music for the album in 9 months and in the house they have been using since blood sex sugar magic.

After these things are done a band would plan on where they are going to record and how long they are going to need and then book these time slots for a recording studio when they have decided this. This is important because they may use too little time and then have wasted money on a recording studio when they don't need that amount of time, or they need more time than they accounted for and therefor need to re-book a recording studio which would waste time.

The next step of planning is to decide on a producer and the person who would be mastering the music product for you. This is important as you need to choose the people who would benefit your music greatest and people who wouldn't tamper with your music and making it into something you don't want it to be. The Red Hot Chili Peppers chose Rick Ruben as previously mentioned in this blog to be their producer as he is best suited to the job as he influences their music positively and is reliable and known to be good as he has been working with the band since Blood Sex Sugar Magic.  

The next part of the process is planning on what your music products artwork would be and to name the album. This is important as if you don't think about this before its too late you will make rash decisions and the artwork and name might not represent the music product well and may not help sales of the music product. In the Chili Peppers case they were thinking of what the artwork and name of the album would be throughout the creation and recording processes of the album and had many many possible names for the album but none seemed right until the name "I'm With You" was suggested and everyone agreed.

Promotion

The Internet
The Peppers used several different ways of promotion for this album and all very affective in my opinion.
The first way was that they put up videos on their youtube channel as like a trailer for the album and putting dates on the videos of when the album is being released. Also there was a few news features about the album on youtube talking about the band, the album and the new line up. I think this is a good way of promotion because its gets the word out about the album fast and to many people. And I think its a good way of promotion for the album because it gets people to know about the album before its released so then it will get more people wanting to buy the album. Other ways of promotion they used for the album is that they used their website, website app, Facebook and other social networking sites to upload posts about the album and photos and videos of the tour. I think this would work well for their audience even though they have a very vast audience a portion, probably a larger portion of their audience would be young people or young adults and they would use these social networking sites so it would get the word out to their audience so they will buy the album.

One of the "view from the road" videos from

the South America part of their tour.

(video from youtube).

Picture of Josh Klinghoffer playing guitar
 with Flea in South America.
This is a picture from "views from the road"
that the Peppers uploaded on line.
(from RedHotChiliPeppers.com)

Another picture from "views from the road".
This is the Peppers in a soul circle before a show
in Hong Kong. (from RedHotChiliPeppers.com)

                                                     
Listening Parties
 Also one of the main ways they promoted the release of their album was that they had listening parties in California, New York, London and other major cities. Also they put cameras in the listening parties and made them available to watch a live streaming feed on their website and you could choose your location so if you were in California you would watch the listening party in California. I think this was a very good technique of promotion as they did these listening parties before the album was released so it created hype around the album and its like a sneak peak on the album which for fans is great and it will make you want to buy the album, also its goof because it wasn't just the people at the listening parties who could listen to the album as you could watch it on line everyone globally could watch it.


Music Videos
Another way they have promoted the album after the album is released is that they released music videos for Raindance Maggie, Monarchy of Roses and Look Around. This is also a good way of promotion they promote that song and promote the band so people will listen and buy the song more. Also on the music video for Look Around there is an interactive feature in the video where you can move the camera around yourself and there is some hidden features which helps promote the song and the album because  people will watch the video more because of this feature and listen to the song and the album more. The Raindance Maggie music video helped promote the album and the band because the music video is Red Hot Chili Peppers playing the song on a roof top to the Californian public, so its like a publicity stunt and the people who watched them are getting a sneak peak at what the album is like so it generates "hype" around the band and around the album.

#

Adventures of Raindance Maggie Music Video

(from youtube)

http://redhotchilipeppers.com/videos/47-look-around-interactive Link for interactive video of Look Around

                                                            Monarchy of Roses Music Video
                                                                          (from youtube)
Interviews
Another way of promotion that was used is that they had interviews of the band talking about the album. Some interviews were by radio stations and music TV stations and others were upload onto their youtube channel. I think that this is a good way of promotion because it lets people know about the album and lets fans know little details and stories around the album which is always good for the fans. Also having interviews by radio stations is also a good idea because then the radio will probably play a song from the album or the single on the radio which is good as well.

The first one of a set of interviews of the band talking about the album.

(from youtube)

The Album Compared to Older Albums 2.

Also another vast difference in the Red Hot Chili Peppers is their album covers and pictures etc. As the albums before Blood Sex Sugar Magic (pictures below); 

Red Hot Chili Peppers.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers first album.
(Picture from Google).

Uplift Mofo Party Plan.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers third album.
(Picture from Google).

Mothers Milk. Red Hot Chili Peppers
 fourth album not including "What Hits?"
(Picture from Google).

Freaky Styley. Red Hot Chili Peppers
second album.
(Picture from Google).

As you can see these album covers are quite extravagant and outgoing and seem more mad than their more recent albums such as Californacation. By The Way, Stadium Arcadium and I'm With You, (pictures below);  

Californacation. Red Hot Chili Peppers
seventh album.
(Picture from Google).

By The Way. Red Hot Chili Peppers
eighth album.
(Picture from Google).

Stadium Arcadium. Red Hot Chili Peppers
ninth album.
(Picture from Google).

I'm With You. Red Hot Chili Peppers
tenth album.
(Picture from Google). 

(There were also two albums in between the albums shown which were Blood Sugar Sex Magic and One Hot Minute)

As you can see these albums aren't as outgoing and seem to look like a more calm scene. I think these album covers represent the music on the album and also in most cases where the band were emotionally etc at the time they made the albums. I think this because if you loom at their first album cover it seems hectic and mad which was exactly what the music and their lives were like at that stage in their life, and the same goes for Uplift Mofo Party Plan as there lives then were partying and lots of drug taking which some people would say would show in the music as it was very fast and mad. However if you take mothers milk it isn't so hectic as it is mainly white and only has a picture of a girl holding the Red Hot Chili Peppers in her arms so its simple. I think this is because at this time Hillel Slovak their original guitarist died of a drug over does and at that time Anthony Kiedis was also on drugs so he quit at this time so I think personally the name (mothers milk) and the cover on this album could represent fresh starts and purity and also the care and naturalness from mothers milk that Anthony needed or was getting etc.

So if you look at the cover of  I'm With You, you could say its showing the same thing, that there is purity and maturity in this album as they are adults now and have children, and hey are more wiser and more happy you could say. So this could be representing that as again it has a white background and only one image of a fly on a pill, so this could be them showing that their over drugs, their all clean, they don't need them and its what they think of them, which could be dirty and bad as there is a fly on the pill.      

The Album Compared to Older Albums

I think that this album is a great album because its different to all their previous albums but still has the main essence that is the red hot chili peppers which is the melodic side to them along with their original funk side which shows in songs like Ethiopia and in the bass lines in the songs like Look Around and Adventures of Raindance Maggie. Compared to albums in the past I think that this album is different because of the sound of the music and I think that is because the music takes influence by more areas of music. This is because there is signs in the songs of certain genres, for example in the soloing at the end of Meet Me At The Corner you could say hat has a slight blues sound to it, and also Anthony said in an interview that the piano riff in the song Even You Brutus? was influenced by the old hip hop beats that was in a lot of hip hop songs and that was the backbone for that song.  The similarities on this album to their old albums is they still use Harmony's and backing vocals extremely well like they did in their previous albums which came from John Frusciante's influence in old pop and rock and roll songs like the beach boys and the way they used backing vocals.  Although compared to their more older albums such as Uplift Mofo Part Plan and Freaky Styley, I'm With You is even more different as their early albums are more bare and a lot more fast and the genre is more punk/funk. Other albums that were in this punk/funk style were Freaky Styley, Uplift Mofo Party Plan, Mothers Milk and Blood Sex Sugar Magic had some of this style but there was a lot more emotion in the record and it was more relaxed but there was still more funk orientated. Whereas I'm With You is more melodic and is more musically in depth because they use more instruments and bring in new ideas and try and branch out musically. 

Red Hot Chili Peppers first album

I'm with you

The Album Name

The I'm with you album cover artwork

Anthony had been trying to come up with names for the title of the album and had lists of potential names for the album but he and the rest of the band felt that none of them felt right for the album, they were clever and good but didn't fit. For example Anthony gave the list to Flea and he read them and said, "these are good but there not the title of our record, its out there somewhere and when we find it we'll know" (from I'm with you interview 9 on youtube by RHCPtv). Then the next day Josh Klinghoffer came and said he had an idea for a title for the album and suggested "I'm with you" and they all agreed that that was going to be the album name. Anthony thought this, "Its just because it has a very good feeling and its something that brings people together. And then a few days later it was announced on the radio  un-known to me and I went into a public gathering and a young chap came up to me beaming from his eyes took my hand and said I'm with you, but it felt so beautiful when he said it to me" (also from I'm with interview 9 by RHCPtv). The band thought the name reflects he album because Josh is with them, they are with Josh and its open so it doesn't have to be literally indicative of the collection of music that's on the album its a little chandelier of sunlight above the songs as Anthony Kiedis said. Personally I think that its a great name for the album and it fits perfectly, this is because the album material to me shows a lot of closeness, togetherness, a lot of happiness and the name I'm with you shows those feelings perfectly and its not too long or complicated its just straight to the point and shows the colour of the band and the album.

Josh Klinghoffer

The New Guy

The writing process seemed to be very similar with Josh so the band just turned up for practising and plugged in and jammed and most of the songs have come from jamming. Another part of the writing process with Josh is that Josh had some material that he was working with for a while and so the used that to it’s extend and the rest of the songs came from Josh and Flea bringing riffs to the band or piano pieces. Josh seemed to fit into the band very well and very easily, this is because Josh had been working with them for some time as he worked with them in Stadium Arcadium and the fact that they are all close friends anyway that helped to fit together. For Anthony Kiedis he felt that Josh was the only real option and that they wanted someone who was already close to them and they knew so it would be easier to adjust as they have tried auditions before and the band felt that they didn’t go down well. When Josh was asked to be in the band he didn’t say yes straight away and went and thought about the decision for a week or so. This made Anthony confident of Josh being the new guitarist as he had actually thought about the decision and as ready and aware and it wasn’t a flippant rash decision. As well as playing guitar and piano Josh also plays the drums and apparently he is a very good drummer and drum’s n his own unique way, these factors helped in the decision for the band that they wanted him because he is a very accomplished musician and to the band the only one to them who knew what he was doing as a musician. Also Josh made music with John Frusiante that personally  I have listened to these tracks and I think they are great and show the amazing talent that they both have as musicians. Personally I think Josh is a good fit to Red Hot Chili Peppers and I love his guiitar playing because there are some amazing riffs and great guitar solos in the album and he brings a great musical direction to the band and I think he is more than equal to John.



Josh Klinghoffer playing 1965 Sunburst Fender Telecaster that
 was given to him by his friend John Frusciante
who he replaced in the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
(picure from feelnumb.com)







 





 





Recording

Recording Studio

They recorded their album in EastWest Studios in California, Los Angeles (the same recording studios that they recorded Californication) and their record label being Warner Bros. The recording dates started on September 2010 to March 2011. The band actually recorded enough material to have a double CD album like Stadium Arcadium but they decided not to, Rick Rubin, thought this was a shame as he said, "it was painful not to share all of the material that we had, but we felt it would be too much. We really wanted it to be twelve songs but it ended up being fourteen just because nobody could agree on which twelve." Rick Rubin is the bands producer and has been since their massive album “Blood Sex Sugar Magic” in the 90’s. The band love working with Rick and think he’s a great producer because he doesn’t try to change who they are as a band or what they sound like. The band thought that it is different working with him now than it was in the past because they didn’t have as much contact with him on this album because Rick lived far away and liked making decisions from home and that he also was working with a lot of other bands and people. However they thought that this did not at all affect the effectiveness of Ricks work and Flea said in an interview that in fact he has probably gotten the way he works down so well that working with him is so easy and that they work well together and he is a great source of ideas.  



Rick Rubin
(picture from Google)



This is a you tube video of an interview with Flea and Josh
and Flea is talking about working with Rick Rubin. I think it is great to hear what they are saying as it gives an insight into how the band work and the process in writing and making the album.