Nothing sounds like vinyl. An analog recording has a quality, a warmth and expansiveness, that digital just can’t equal.

For those of you too young to remember what it’s like to drop a needle on a record, it’s hard to explain how it turned the act of listening into a sacred ritual, something requiring care and attention, but you may get your turn yet. According to the Wall Street Journal, while CD sales fell 5% last year, sales of vinyl records grew by 36%. Everything old is new, again. Hipsters are buying them like hotcakes.

We never gave up on vinyl. It’s not just the quality of the sound that we love so much, but the fact that an album is an actual thing. Its size allows for artwork that can’t be effectively shrunk down to fit on a CD jewel box. It has a weight that feels like it matters. Nothing about vinyl says disposable.

That’s why we released our own vinyl LP last year, “Sonic Branding”. We took special care to create a package that provided the perfect visual accompaniment to the music it contained. If you have it, but don’t have a record player, run out to Target and buy one (or just pop the companion CD into your player if you must). Put on your headphones (the kind with the RCA jack) and pour a glass of your favorite beverage. We suggest a nice single malt scotch. Then, let those warm tones carry you away on a cloud of sonic bliss.

Don’t take our word for it. Check out these recent articles about the vinyl revival:

• Dallas Record Company Benefits From Vinyl Record Boom (NBC DFW) »
• Neil Young: Steve Jobs listened to vinyl (USA Today) »
• It’s Alive! Vinyl Makes a Comeback (The Wall Street Journal) »

That means 3 things: great football, million dollar ads and MUSIC.

For us in Dallas, the Super Bowl is something of a mirage these days (even if it was at Jerry World last year). This wasn’t the case in the 90’s. The ‘Boys, led by the Triplets (Troy, Emmitt and Michael) won 3 SB’s. But, with just 1 playoff win in the last 15 years, we can only relish the good old days… but I digress.

Super Bowl ratings have always been sky high. Not just because of the spectacle of the game, but also because of hi-profile commercials. And, in the last 20 years or so, who performs musically at halftime has almost become as important as who plays in the game!

It started with the King of Pop at Super Bowl XXVII (1993) when he sang Heal The World. And we all remember his sister’s wardrobe malfunction when she was singing with Justin Timberlake (Super Bowl XXXVIII). Other notable entertainers have been U2, Prince, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Paul McCartney, to name a few.

Last year Dallas’ own Stephen Arnold Music got overlooked (not really) and The Black Eyed Peas performed… This year, in Indianapolis, the ageless Madonna is scheduled to perform.

Other music that comes to mind around Super Bowl time is The Super Bowl Shuffle by the 1986 Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears:

But my all-time favorite football tune was composed right here at the SAM studio for the New Orleans Saints, who went on to win Super Bowl XLIV in 2012. It’s called Big Thang:

These days good football isn’t the only key ingredient to a successful Super Bowl. Good music matters too!

The “Arts” always come out in full bloom at year’s end. We all have our favorite, iconic holiday book/film/play/TV show, maybe even a favorite toy, and last but not least, favorite Christmas song or carol.

Since I was a kid, some of those iconic holiday classics have been replaced — a change made ever more apparent as the father of three young ones (although only one still young enough to “believe”).

I will never forget those classics near and dear to me come Christmas, but as a sign of changing times, here’s a quick comparison of my favorites against those of my children:

BOOK
Then: The Night Before Christmas
Now:  The Polar Express

MOVIE
Then: A Christmas Carol
Now:  Elf

TOYS
Then: Atari
Now:  Xbox 360

MUSIC
Ironically, when it comes to music, this is one of the few Christmas favorites that really hasn’t changed. My kids love “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”, and my personal favorite has always been “The Little Drummer Boy”, especially Bob Seger’s version.

Sonic Branding is as common a phrase as any other here at Stephen Arnold Music. I’ve explained it a thousand times to clients and would-be clients. “That set of notes that musically identifies a program, a film, a product…” I didn’t have to be in the room looking at the TV last night to know Monday Night Football was coming on – I could hear the sonic brand from across the house.

Think of the concept as it applies to Christmas. There are hundreds of “sonic brands” out there that immediately tell us what time of year it is…Christmas time!

What’s your favorite Christmas Sonic Brand?

I remember when Carol and I first got married, she was getting her masters in Special Ed and her thesis was on autism. We kept 5 autistic boys in our home for a year! Those were such hard times, but great times and so rewarding… it made me realize and prioritize what’s really important.

With that in mind, here’s a great track accompanying an even a better message (at least until the advertisers plug… Oops–did I say that?).

I love the way the space in this acoustic guitar piece allows room for the mother’s voiceover to weave in and out and complement her sense of loving acceptance and hope.  The hallelujah vocals provide a subtle touch that drives the comforting feeling of this piece home.

What matters most to you?

– SA

“Troubadour TX”

… is a 22 one hour episode television series following talented singer songwriters as they chase their dreams across the Lone Star State. Debuts all across America beginning September 22.

This is a clip from the Promax NYC “Marketing Genius” session this June showing the creative behind

WGNO-TV, New Orleans’ “God Bless Louisiana” campaign.

In the 1987 film Broadcast News, real-life film-score composers Marc Shaiman and Glen Roven had a cameo as dorky musicians trying to pitch a new theme song for the network’s nightly news broadcast. They frantically introduce the parts as they sing them — “Now comes the counter melody!” — and signal the piece’s big finish by chanting in unison, “Big finish!”

Stephen Arnold and Chad Cook know that scene well. For the president and VP of creative services, respectively, of Stephen Arnold Music, a Dallas shop that has created themes and audio logos for ESPN, ESPNU, Golf Channel, Tennis Channel, and NBC Sports, as well as the YouTube hit for the New Orleans Saints’ “Big Thang” victory song, the manic 40-second cameo belies both the lengthy and nuanced process that goes into creating music for broadcast sports and the fact that sometimes you have to get it all across in three seconds.

“Everyone is looking for their own ‘John Hancock’ of music,” says Cook, “the theme that lets fans instantly identify with the show.”

Click here to read the whole thing.

"1969 Fender Stratocaster"

This is a prelude to our upcoming book – “A Story Of Six Strings,” which chronicles the history of Stephen Arnold Music through Stephen’s guitars, all of which were photographed on location throughout the western United States.

Stephen:  ”I had always wanted a Fender Strat but never could afford one. The ‘69 strat was especially iconic, because that was the year Fender changed to a larger headstock and a U-shaped maple neck. In late July 2005, about a month before Hurricane Katrina, I was in New Orleans for some sessions for WWL-TV and found this Strat at a vintage music store. Two things are special to me about this Fender:

1) I probably saved that guitar’s life, because the music store was destroyed a month later during Katrina (I’ve named the guitar Katrina… My favorite guitars all have names.)
2) I used the guitar playing all of the sonic logo harmonics on the Weather Channel’s  Storm Alert.”

John Lennon would have been 70 years old this week. It got me thinking about one of his most famous lyrics, a line from “God”: “The dream is over.”

Lennon may have been reflecting on the demise of the Beatles, but it seems to also apply to the once enthusiastic promise of digital music services. The hope of pioneering the music industry’s most profound transformation that inspired entrepreneurs over 10 years ago has finally been snuffed out by the very people who would have profited the most—the music industry.

The table is now set. There will be no new players of significance to enter the business. Investors don’t want to entertain the remotest possibility of funding any startup that deals with music no matter how clever and innovative. As one major media venture firm told me a few months ago, they’re tired of writing checks for big advances to record labels. Not to mention the huge legal fees that startups have to spend in order to get licensed, a process that takes at least a year (for no apparent reason, I might add).

What’s most ironic is that the record labels have now put themselves in the position of having to depend on the bulk of their digital sales from companies that actually could care less about selling music: Apple, Amazon, and now Google. These behemoths have huge revenues, 99.9% of which are not related to digital music sales.

Read the whole thing.

The X-Mas Dinner Spread

I thought long and hard about what to bring, and frankly it stressed me out a bit. I started to think through what I had – a spare picture frame, photo-shop skills, a photo printer. All these things add up, but a final ingredient made everything come together: the desire for revenge.

I had been the brunt of a few jokes in the sales department, those strapping men who drive fast cars but gossip like school girls at the faintest hint of romance: I went to lunch with a girl, and weeks later, Arthur was still prodding me about the marriage plans. My walk from the creative wing down to the sales department became a passage through that affectionate verbal gauntlet common to most male workforce interaction.

Kim knows what I'm talking about...

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the interaction. However, I am not one for immediate retaliation either. If I feel the need to save face, I’ll smile, nod and laugh along, then later when you aren’t looking I’ll slap you in the back of the head so hard your glasses fall off. It’s more fun for me that way. So, in this vein, it dawned on me that the White Elephant gift represented a beautiful opportunity to bring things back around. And to do so tastefully.

I started scouting the company server to find an old funny picture of one of the culprits. Quite honestly, the possibilities, when mixed with a little photo-shop trickery, were endless. I knew who my targets were: Joe and Arthur. Andy, the new guy, might take it a little hard, not to mention the shortage of his pictures on the server, so I really had no choice but one of the top dogs.

Understanding how creative business works, I did a few mockups:

Here's Joe Faulkner with his good friend Joe Faulkner.

Arthur Casias on vacation in California.

However, an axiom I try to live by: natural is better. If you can find something that requires no manipulation and still meets your needs, it will almost always be better than something you have to tweak endlessly (for example, Arthur’s chin above). Knowing this, imagine how elated I was when I stumbled across this gem:

"I am Arthur, hear me roar." Photography by Paul West.

Ultimately, as the ringleader, it was Arthur who I felt deserved the proverbial slap in the back of the head, even though Joe and Andy participated in the friendly banter. So I printed the above photo, practiced Arthur’s signature twice, then dreamily signed his name across the left side with plenty of x’s and o’s. I wrapped it up and headed to the Christmas dinner, where I nervously wondered how everyone would react. Too much? Maybe…

But luckily, they loved it. Even Arthur. Predictably, he still gives me a hard time about said lunch date. But hey, that’s just what sales guys do. (Chest bump)

Arthur, Chad and Joe with Arthur's beautiful b&w head shot.