My December to Remember Christmastime News...

Hi there,
A very merry and joyous Christmastime & a Happy New Year in 2016 to you!  Thanks for being my fan, and for purchasing, sharing & listening to my music, and for all your support in 2015! Many exciting things are happening, but above all I wanted to wish you all a truly memorable & blessed Christmas! 

Just a few updates:
My New Album "Dream of You"

As many of you know, my album is scheduled to be out very soon. We had a setback because I was ill for over a month, and couldn't sing! But it's back on track and we're almost finished mixing in Nashville, and on  to mastering, and then the album will be out-hopefully in time for Valentines! If you want to reserve your signed copy, please feel free to email me or respond to this email with your address and the number you want. I'll hold one (or more) for my email family for just $10 plus $2 shipping each in the Continental US (shipping is for up to 4)!!   This is a great deal because it will cost over $15 ea. to get one hardcopy if you order it after release...The songs are beautiful and a little different than my "usual". They're very honest & personal, with a bit of a folk, country-pop edge. I call it Amerifolk Pop-Country. There's also a little Latin jazz and even some rock-n-roll!

I think you'll enjoy the songs, and really relate to the lyrics. BTW- One original Single, "Stronger", already won Song of the Year at the 2015 IMEA Awards in Atanta on Oct. 24th, 2015, & Prime of Life was awarded Top 5 Finalist on Song of the Year.com, and nominated for Song of the Year at the 2015 IMEA awards! This album is actually based on the story of my life.  A story all of us can relate to: the dreams of youth, falling in love, aspirations, challenges & regrets, moving on, dealing with changes, and finally: love & acceptance. I sing about romance, the real meaning of love, the importance of family bonds, disappointments & heartbreak, finally growing up! and being happy and content right where you are now.

Please listen to some of the new songs here: www.Reverbnation.com/Deborahwedekind & please let me know what you think of my demos of "Stronger", "Prime of Life", "Recipe of Love" & "Dream of You" ok?

Upcoming Shows

Since we've been working so hard on this album, we only have a handful of shows coming up, but I still wanted you to know about them...Most are private company Christmas parties, but I have a few shows coming soon:

New Years Show...in Boquete, Panama!  Stay tuned, I'm sending info to my Latin American/Panamanian friends soon! This show will be much different than my Christmas show at the Rock- more Jazzy and more dance music!

Feb 13, 2016, 7-9pm  Valentine's Show at the Bender Performing Arts Center, Humble.   Featuring jazzy-pop standards by classical Soprano Megan Stapleton, & Mezzo Soprano DeDe Wedekind :) More show information TBA!

Have a wonderful Christmas and God bless you & your families!

DeDe & Larry (Cookie & Sugar too!) Wedekind :)

DeDe's Official Website:  www.DeDe-Music.com  Hear samples of DeDe's music and get albums!

Facebook Fan Sites: www.Facebook.com/DeDeWedekind & www.Facebook.com/DeDe

YouTube: www.YouTube.com/1DWedekind

Twitter:  @DeDeWMusic

All Songs on Reverbnation:  www.reverbnation.com/Deborahwedekind   &    www.reverbnation.com/DeDeandtheDaydreams

Sign the Petition....for the US to STOP Music & Copyright Online Piracy!

Hi there,

As an independent Singer/Songwriter, Anti-Piracy's a subject that's near and dear to my heart: my music copyrights, sales, and revenues have been personally all but destroyed by online music & video internet piracy, and this is happening worldwide unfortunately. These folks are not just stealing our songs, they're stealing our copyrighted art, our identities, and our very livelihood: the income we rely on to support ourselves & our families, and to keep on writing and performing music!  I liken it to this scenario: would we tolerate it if someone walked in to a museum and took an original painting off the wall, copied it- and sold it to millions of people along with the original?

Whether you're an artist or just enjoy music, I sincerely hope you'll take just a few short minutes to read a very brief article below by William Buckley of FairPlay Inc., and SIGN the Petition on the site link below.  Online piracy effects all of us in one way or another, so keep all of the great new music & videos coming-take action now!

Thanks so much!
DeDe   www.DeDe-Music.com  & www.youtube.com/1DWedekind

Please share this important message with others...

Musicians, songwriters, filmmakers, authors & photographers have lost billions of dollars to online piracy due to a loophole in our existing copyright laws.

Stop penalizing creators and close the loophole that has provided a ‘Safe Harbor’ for online piracy since 1998.

Every creator who has tried to have their work removed from an infringing website knows the problem.  The rightful owner of the work files a ‘take down’ notice, the infringing site deletes the file temporarily and then reposts the same work using a different url.

Under current U.S. law this is perfectly legal and used by every pirate site to avoid prosecution.

Last year alone over 350 Million take down notices were filed with little or no impact on internet piracy.

Sign the Petition Here

Light Reading about Copyrights from ASCAP

Hi there,

I wanted to fill you in on some music news, but be warned. This is a very meaty article lots of fancy terms and such about the wonderful world of music copyrights (and other copyrights).  I got it from an ASCAP email I received, and thought some of you who are musicians or music supporters would want to read what's happening in the big world of music copyrights. These are some thoughts supporting artists and artists rights (which as an artist and songwriter, I also support!), which are being debated now in the US and elsewhere around the world since the advent of the internet and free downloads, music streaming, etc.

http://illusionofmore.com/copyright-critics-dont-get-artists/


Anyways, enjoy this "light" reading!
Musically yours,
DeDe :)
www.DeDe-Music.com
www.facebook.com/DeDeWedekind
www.youtube.com/1dwedekind

What does U2’s Deal With Apple Mean for the Music Industry?

Hi, DeDe here,

Personally, I love U2, and I think this was a very smart move for them. Bono has proven over and over through the years that he's not just a super-talented musician, he's also a true marketing genius. Look how he keeps re-creating his music, yet keeps it true to the U2 sound, and it's stayed more or less, quite popular...for almost 30 years.

However, this just shows how truly bad the situation has gotten for almost all of the artists in the music industry. What everyone's not telling you is that U2 got a huge paycheck (~100Million) behind the scenes from iTunes, Apple, etc. But for us non-famous, unknown, hardworking musicians and songwriters, this may be a signal of the final kiss of death for album and CD sales, which 99.9% of us still rely on for survival and in order to keep creating music....

There's got to be a solution here that protects artists, and pays us a fair amount for our new music-keeping copyright protections in place, while at the same time keeping music affordable and available to consumers. I'm open to your thoughts on this, any suggestions or ideas?... http://www.DeDe-Music.com

What does U2’s Deal With Apple Mean for the Music Industry? The world's biggest band have given their new album away for free on iTunes. But what's in it for them?

-From entertainment.ie, Sept. 2014

U2 sent shockwaves through the music industry last night by announcing at the launch of the new iPhone 6 that their new album 'Songs of Innocence' was to be given away completely free of charge on Apple's iTunes online music store.

To say that this is an unconventional method to release new material would be an understatement and it could potentially be seen as a seismic shift in the way music is delivered to its audience. Since the advent of iTunes and, more lately Spotify, the means by which people experience music has been subverted. Purists suggest that this is to the detriment to the concept of the album as a standalone collection of music, as today's listeners seem more content to download or stream a series of individual tracks as they grow their personally curated collections. It's the musical equivalent of separating the wheat from the chaff.

By partnering with Apple and giving their entire record away for free, U2 have embraced the digital age in a way that many of their contemporaries have appeared so hesitant to do and also encouraged fans to download and listen to the albums as a whole rather than to cherry-pick their way through it by downloading the odd single here or there.

But what exactly is in this for U2? Quite a lot, it turns out. Bono has said on many occasions, and as recently as last week, that he doesn't believe in "free" music so it would be naive to suggest that this is an entirely philanthropic gesture by U2. Various figures are traversing the internet this morning about exactly how much U2 will earn from their "free" album and it's entirely possible that this could generate Bono and co. more than any other album they've released in the last two decades.

The Wall Street Journal quotes a source "familiar with the talks" who said U2 were paid an astonishing $100 million for their participation, with Apple only too happy to realign with the group they previously worked with ten years ago to release a special U2 iPod. This move was also presumably designed to incentivise the purchase of U2's back catalogue in iTunes to a younger audience and to highlight ticket sales for the eventual tour on the back of 'Songs of Innocence' (though it's unlikely they would have needed to much help in that regard).

Jimmy Iovine, record producer and co-founder of Beats, explained Bono's intentions further to Time.

"The charts are broken", he said. "The old music industry has reached a low point and hasn't kept up with the digital world. He wants to see the artists' reach measured by how much they're listened to, by whatever medium or method."

U2 are following the lead of Beyonce, Jay Z and Radiohead who in the past have released music either unannounced, packaged with a tech company or free. In fact, Beyonce sold around 800,000 units of her last album within a week (though fans had to pay for it) when it was made instantly available on iTunes and U2 are expected to far eclipse that figure.

What can we take from this? It's a pretty strong indicator from U2 that they think the traditional means for music distribution is broken and what they have done with 'Songs of Innocence' is set a very appealing, if completely unsustainable, precedent. When the sales figures are released in a week or so we expect there'll be a few happy faces around the Vico Road but where does this leave the bands who are relying on album sales to generate income or recoup losses?

Releasing an album for free (or by having Apple write you a Euro Millions sized cheque) is a luxury only afforded to the 1%, leaving countless other bands trying to keep their balance on the shaky ground that is today's music industry.When the world's biggest band acknowledges that the system in place to sell music to the public is broken, where does that leave the little guy? U2's free album will no doubt be a delight to many but it might just be the clearest indicator yet that the system we have in place is irreparably damaged.