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Hi JPF!

Von Babasin here from ONOFFON. I'm new here on the boards but I've been a member of JPF since it was in its infancy. We actually tied for third place in the 1999 JPF Awards for the Best Jazz Album with our album, "Your Mind". Seems a lifetime ago. This place has grown a little... but, then, so have we...

Success stories - well we aren't rich yet and that's pretty much how society measures success in the music industry. But, we have won so many awards and received so many excellent reviews and features, we are certainly artistically successful.

Our most recent accolade - ONOFFON has been chosen as the International Online Music Magazine's 2005 "Artist of the Year" - on the merits of our album, "Your Mind". Here's the review and interview that led to our award - click the links to read the entire articles -

International Online Music Magazine
http://rcatcommunications.com/IOM/CDReviewsOnOffOn.htm
OnOffOn CD Review, March 2005

"Who remembers excellence in composition, musicianship and production? The kind of excellence that is usually awarded a Platinum presentation disc by the RIAA and a standing ovation when the band arrive on stage to collect their award by a scantily clad supermodel on behalf of the record industry?"

International Online Music Interviews
http://www.dgmpublishing.com/IOM/InterviewsOnOffOn.htm
OnOffOn Interview - April 2005

"Elley Wilson first introduced me to Von Babasin and OnOffOn, his late father Harry, and a whole new world of Progressive Jazz, Rock and Blues fusion back in December 2004. I remember vividly, the startled and enthusiastic glare she carried around the office for weeks after.. like it was ten minutes ago! Although I was completely overwhelmed with the MP3 versions of the music these guys had put together, it wasn't really until I got to review the album 'Your Mind', that I was well and truly vaccinated and made subsequently immune from anything I had previously heard in this treasure chest of a genre. The thing is, for me and the rest of the planet, we now have something completely astonishing in our midst and to find out more about this incredibly accomplished 'purveyor of excellence' it was necessary to drag Von over the border to answer for OnOffOn's mortal sins..."

To learn more about our band and our music - please visit our homepage at -

http://www.onoffon.com/

We are ENTIRELY self produced and promoted and have amassed an internet presence of more than 3,000 websites around the world. It's hard to find a TOTALLY independently produced and promoted band with a larger internet presence than ONOFFON.

On the heels of winning this award, ONOFFON is finally releasing their long awaited third CD, "Bridge to Presage". For now, it is exclusively available at CD Baby and is awaiting delivery to the digital distribution network to join our other two CDs, "Surrender Now' (1997) and "Your Mind" (1999).

We will be submitting this CD for 2005-2006 JPL Awards consideration.

Thanks for your time,

Von Babasin
http://www.onoffon.com/
http://www.jazzinhollywood.com/

A few more cool things that happened fairly recently -

ONOFFON has been included in a prog comp CD produced by the Music Street Journal called "Got Prog?". We were invited to be a part of this comp for no fee to us and we're among artists like Birdsongs of the Mesozoic, Echolyn, and Erik Norlander. They included our song, "Shadowglass" - an instrumental in 5/4, featuring guest Glen Garrett on alto flute -

"Got Prog?"
http://www.cafepress.com/msjmerch.14281937

In tandem with the release of the "Got Prog?" compilation CD, the Music Street Journal has posted a very nice review of our Your Mind CD and an interview with me -

Your Mind
http://www.musicstreetjournal.com/onoffonsecondcd.htm

Interview
http://www.musicstreetjournal.com/onoffoninterview.htm

An ezine called Unsigned Music Magazine has published an issue that featured ONOFFON with an interview with me, pictures and sound samples - they produce a magazine that is published in downloadable PDF files -

Unsigned Music Mag
http://www.unsignedmusicmag.com/

You can click over to their 'Archives' page and download back issues.

December, 2004 features ONOFFON, while their January, 2005 issue has a feature about my father, Harry Babasin.

They have already told me they will be featuring a review of our new CD in an upcoming issue, as well.

These are some very cool places for independent exposure...

Cheers!

Von from ONOFFON

[This message has been edited by ONOFFON (edited 07-12-2005).]

For those of you interested enough to actually visit our CD Baby pages, here they are -

Bridge to Presage
http://www.cdbaby.com/onoffon3

Your Mind
http://www.cdbaby.com/onoffon2

Surrender Now
http://www.cdbaby.com/onoffon

We truly are unlike any other band out there... see what you think...




[This message has been edited by ONOFFON (edited 07-26-2005).]

I clicked each link and they wouldn't work. Sorry.

Thanks for trying and for pointing out a problem - the links have been corrected...

Cheers!

Wonderful! much continued success to you!

Thank you, KathyW!

Appreciate the support!

Von from ONOFFON

Hey Von, how's it going? Congrats on 2005 Artist of the year.

Thanks Louis - we should be receiving our award any day now!

Things are good right now - how's about you?

can't complain.

Not too long ago, we received our first break through in major media song placement when FOX Sports used our song, "Mardi Gras", in an episode of their TV show, '54321'. We didn't receive a licensing fee up front but we did earn some very legitimate BMI performance royalties.

The only other significant placement we had received was with Lancit Entertainment and their series, "Upward Bound", produced for Discovery Channel. They used our song, "Surrender Now", in two episodes. But, it didn't have the same impact as FOX.

From those successes, I became a member of TAXI and, to date, we have received about 50% forwards with them. Though, we haven't signed any deals or made any placements through them, so far.

We'll see what happens with the new music we've released...

This is so cool....



It's not often that a band that plays our styles of music wins this type of award. It's usually reserved for media created pop stars and easily marketable commodities.

It's truly an honor to win this award...

Man oh Man, that is cool.. Congrats....

LOVED seeing your award on this post! What great news...Congratulations to you!

Bravo!

Emily
emilysanders.net

http://cdbaby.com/cd/emilysanders

[This message has been edited by Emily Sanders (edited 08-16-2005).]

Thanks Louis...

Funny to win an award in 2005 for a CD we released in 1999. It took us six years to introduce it to a music community that appreciated it on this level...

Cheers!

Thank you, Emily! The more of us indies that win awards like this, the more the independent music movement gains stature and credibility!

It was REALLY cool for my wife and two sons to take part in receiving this award...

Congrats to you, too, on the good things that have happened and will continue to happen for you and your music!

Thanks again...

We've always felt that music doesn't have an expiration date like Milk. That's why we've avoided having date restrictions on our awards. We'd have missed a ton of great music last year if we had a limitation. Our society is sometimes a bit too obsessed with the new. Music has suffered from this as much or more than anything else in pop culture I think.

Brian

Y'know, half or more of the stuff on the radio sounds like it *does* have an expiration date like milk. And there's probably a song in that...

Von, congratulations. Your success gives folks like me hope.

Joe
www.soundclick.com/bands/7/joewrabek_music.htm

Very true, Brian... I'd also like to see the music industry embrace their independent world in the same way that the movie industry does - with Cannes and Sundance and festivals that truly celebrate the independent film makers - the music industry would benefit greatly if it nutured the innovation and creativity that comes from artistic audacity...

Time will tell...

Thanks Joe, for your kind words.

Keep doing what you're doing - and don't let anyone tell you different...

Cheers!

Von,

Actually, I think the JPF Music Awards are sort of filling that "Sundance" type niche for the music industry. There's a lot more money involved/available for indie films than music for events like Sundance... I think if we could cap off the awards process with a Sundance-esque music week where we take over a town, showcase all the nominees all week long and then have the awards show, that could rival the Sundance experience. Anyone know how to fund that without us having to sell our JPF souls to do it?

Brian

I agree, Brian. Along with the IOMAs, which are based in Canada, you guys are filling a much needed role for nuturing new underground music talent.

The big difference is, the film industry allows independent film makers to go 'outside the box' (another marketable catch phrase in itself) - in fact, they encourage quirky and different out of its indie community.

Music is not like that. They encourage the status quo - they want their indie community to mirror them, as if justifying the directions they already support. I attended one of the EAT'M conferences in Las Vegas and it had a strong industry presence. And the bands they chose to showcase at the various venues around town were all the same ole same ole.

I am currently a member of TAXI and I see its biggest drawback is the fact that the industry submits listings for music that sounds like this band or that band and artists that want to be forwarded, then have to specifically sound like this band or that band, perpetuating this status quo. It diminishes innovation and independent thought and tells you how to write music to be successful.

And we all know that society defines success as how much money you make and how many pieces you sell.

You mentioned something about selling your souls - what is an artist to do?

If you want to fund something that truly breaks the mold, it must be privately funded by individuals and foundations that support the true creativity of music in particular. There are many out there - you need a team of grant writers and a non-profit division that would oversee the operation of the festival.

That's the only source I can imagine that would fund this type of thing without corporate control...

Just a thought...

Well, I agree with most of what you said, however we do acknowlege music outside of the box. 95% of what we nominate is totally outside the industry norm. We do recognize a small portion of music that is also worthy of head to head comparison to the mainstream because it would be disingenuous for us not to support those members as well. I am not someone who thinks all label music sucks like many militant indies. I think mainstream music is ALSO enjoyable. I just thing we should also check out the other 98% of the music out there and enjoy that just as much. So that's our approach. It's also why I like the fact that we have a small niche of major label artists and writers ALSO involved in our awards process. Unlike some of our indie brethren who practice reverse discrimination against the music involved with the majors, I simply love and support ALL the cool music out there.. whether it's made by the famous, the infamous or the unknown.

Brian

I'm sorry - I didn't mean you don't look outside the box - I mean the industry doesn't look outside the box. I didn't clarify that.

I am 100% behind what you are doing here. The industry needs to support you and other organizations like you more - that's the difference between the film and music industries. Look how respected AFI is.

And, trust me, I do not hate everything produced by major labels either. I have tremendous respect for anyone that displays true talent in any genre.

My main beef with the industry is that talent is not the most important point - it's all built off image and marketability, first and foremost. Talent is almost an afterthought or byproduct. If a talented artist is lucky enough to 'make it' - then, that talent is tested and can then determine the longevity of that artist's career. That's why we have so many one-hit wonders out there.

The music industry should be subsidizing JPF and IOMA and others like them around the world.

Okay - enough of my soapbox...