Dyan Garris Interview - The Final on Vinyl Podcast

I had a great talk with Dyan Garris, who is a musician, publicist, author, healer-She has done it all and continues to help other artists and all walks of life worldwide.

Keith "MuzikMan" Hannaleck

Transcript

Speaker 0:13

Hi everybody, this is Keith MuzikMan Hannaleck with the Final on Vinyl Podcast, and today is my honor to bring on Dyan Garris, who has a long history in the New Age uh genre uh in many different areas. Welcome aboard, Dyan. Hi, Keith. Thanks for having me on. Absolutely. I appreciate you coming aboard. I've admired your work for so many years and um appreciate you connecting with me like you have. And we've done some things together since uh last year and really excited about all the different things you have going on. There's a lot to talk about. But I suppose we should start at the beginning maybe uh for a little while, how you know you got into music and uh how you developed all these different programs um in music and outside of that with healing and so forth. What do you think? Sounds good. Okay. So when did it start for you?

Speaker 1 1:19

Oh gosh. I mean, music when I was four. Yeah, it's just playing the piano at four. My mother got a blind piano teacher. I um asked him to take his glasses off and uh which he did, and I I was just confused as to how he was gonna um show me how to play the piano with no eyes, right? And he just said, you know, we feel the music, we don't need to see the music. So that was the beginning. We went on to have uh classical piano training and then I was um first chair, first violin, all through high school and orchestra. So kind of musical.

Speaker 2:04

That's pretty cool that he said that to you, and it's true. I mean that's what you know, listening to music from where I sit as a reviewer for me it's always been about feeling and emotion and and what it brings up for me and try to relay that into the tracks that I hear. So I totally get that. But being on your side is where it all starts.

Speaker 1 2:26

Well, yeah, and you know, he took my hands and he just put them like on his and he's like, This is how we do it. We feel it, we don't have to see it. Although I do read music because I had classical training. Um so yeah, but you know, I learned that pretty early on about the emotions of it.

Speaker 2:50

Do you feel that the new age genre is a branch off of the classical?

Speaker 1 2:56

Well, some of it is, I mean, you know, especially the New Age piano, which quite frankly, I don't even know how that got in this genre, but I think they have nowhere else to go. So and it's fine. I mean, because to me the new age uh genre is is you know, we do have all these branches, but I I think that my definition is is it relapsing, is it uplifting, um, you know, is it meditative? That kind of defines the new age genre for me anyway.

Speaker 3:33

So how many recordings do you actually have out at this time, Diane?

Speaker 1 3:37

Yeah, I have 14 albums. And uh I yeah, that's a lot. Of course, there are so many more that are way more prolific than I am, but um yeah, 14 albums since uh I think the first one was 2005, and I did a series of um it was actually a chakra series. So it was um uh each one of those CDs had a guided meditation at the end, and it started at the root, and then it the music got higher and higher in vibration as we went up, and then the meditations too became more a little more complex as it went up, and then the seventh one in that series was uh released, which actually had no meditation at the end. But I had them um independently tested by the uh national health and wellness um organization, and and they did win the award for uh you know, it's it's called the National Health and Wellness Um Association Award. So that was the these people were independently tested and they have to the they had to listen to the music and the meditation and then you know vote on it.

Speaker 4:59

I won. It was cool. Wow, that's really cool. So at what point did you decide decide to to branch off of that and and go into different areas of media?

Speaker 1 5:12

Okay, so and um I didn't really want to do that because I was actually at the height of my career. Um, you know, Jeff Oster and I were coming up all at the same time. And uh in fact, you know, at the time Music Choice Soundscapes had had um they were they were always doing their top ten every week. And um Jeff and I were uh I was number one and he was number two, and you know, he called me and he's like, Who are you? You're beating me on Soundscapes. But um, you know, it was at the height of everything, and then my husband had a stroke, and um everything just stopped. And so yeah, your whole life goes away. Um, I was the sole caretaker for four years, and it was you know, my husband was a vegetable. He couldn't walk, he couldn't talk, he couldn't eat, he couldn't do anything for himself. So my whole life really went away, and um when I came out of that, it was 2016, um, and you sort of just have to regroup and go, okay, well, who am I without you know, my other life? And so I had already had um the the website newgecd.com. I built that in well, during the stroke I built in. Um and I was starting to do reviews because basically it was like, okay, what can I do, you know, within the parameter of of the confining, caretaking thing. And so one of the things that I could do is is write reviews. So that's how that started. But then after 16, uh I it just it just sort of happened, you know. I went from New Age C D to New Age Notes to, you know, but the the thrust of that really back then was writing reviews, is really how that kind of started with the branch off, you know.

Speaker 7:40

Right. Well, you know, life pushes us in in different directions sometimes. We don't ask for it, but it's all for a good reason, I suppose, right?

Speaker 1 7:50

Yes, it all goes where it's supposed to go. Um I wasn't I wasn't able to um I had an album when he my husband went down, I had an album, you know, ready to go. And um well, almost ready to go. And I couldn't get it out there until, you know, six well, it was 16 that I was able to get Mystics 9 out. Um, but it was ready in 2012. And then um, you know, but everything had changed. So I call it the time warp. You know, when I came out of the time warp, there was um streaming full blast, there was, you know, I didn't even know what Spotify was because you know the whole the whole music business had changed in in four or five years. So it helped to kind of learn, you know, learn what this was about, you know.

Speaker 8:50

You know, and the thing is too, you know, along with all those changes with technology and internet have helped artists, but you know, when you look at platforms like Spotify and so forth, uh you know, it's a lot of the the same things are happening. The artists just aren't making the money they deserve. So for the artists out there, um you've done a lot besides the New Age Notes Radio and the relicensing, um, and now the magazine, uh which I am uh a part of. I am proud to be part of that magazine that you put out. And um what would you say to artists that are coming out now, you know, looking at all these different platforms and options? What's the best route for them to take to make the maximum amount of of money, maximum return on all of their hard work?

Speaker 1 9:39

Yeah, well, you know, it's kind of a st it's a strategy. And that strategy is like um like the stock market investing, right? You have to diversify. You have to build a fan base, you have to have um, you can't just put all your eggs in the serious XM basket and and expect that to be your whole thing. So what you want to do is build a fan base. And so this is a combination of factors, you know, you have to have the streaming. I just don't, you know, personally agree with uh the Spotify model, you know, where they're there to me, you know, it exploits artists. So I never really after I examined the business model, I was like, okay, I just don't like this. But in today's world, it has to be part of your strategy. Because if you do, if you get enough streams, you're gonna be making money there, right? So, you know, you have to engage with your keep your fans engaged, um, continually come out with new music, get your name out there, keep your name out there, keep your music out there, keep people interested in what you're doing, and and then the rest is gonna follow. But, you know, you can't just anymore put out an album, hire a guy to get you on some chart, and then think that's just gonna catapult you somewhere. This is a combination of strategies that you have to do if you want to make money here.

Speaker 11:20

Absolutely agree, and I understand that um from what I've done over the years when I started back in 1998, it's a model of consistency and diversification. I was on all these different sites, I was constantly posting. It's like if you can't post every day, do it every other day, post something. You know, get out there on the internet and get into that algorithm where people do a search and you're gonna pop up because you're on all these different platforms and sites. And the other thing that I see artists doing, which is a big mistake, is not to have their own website. They just use Bandcamp or they use Facebook. What happens if those sites go away or they have a big outage? You're out in cyberspace somewhere and nobody can access your information or your music, right?

Speaker 1 12:10

Well, exactly. So again, you know, the strategy has to be diversification and don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Speaker 12:19

Absolutely. Right. We've always agreed on that, haven't we?

Speaker 1 12:24

Yes, we have.

Speaker 12:27

Yeah. So so going forward for you, um, you have a multitude of things going, I know, and you're very busy. Um the New Age Notes magazine is the latest and greatest thing that you have brought into the consciousness of the community. Uh, what are there any plans going forward with that? Is this going to be an every other month thing, a quarterly thing, and what are you to do with that?

Speaker 1 12:53

Yeah, so New Age Notes magazine um goes along with the New Age Notes radio station, right? And it's just another avenue for artists to get their stuff out there. It's highly visible, it's getting more visible as we go along. So the magazine is um it is uh interviews, it's reviews. What I love about it is that it's multimedia, so we can include music videos in there, we can include audio interviews, you know, it's it's very engaging. And um and it stays, you know, it's not something that disappears. So, you know, I think you know I also write for Sedona Journal of Emergence, right? And so, you know, it's another it's another way to I think the more the more avenues that we have to keep our visibility out there, the better, right? So going forward, I mean you need to know its magazine is every two months. If I could do it every month, I would, but it's a great deal of work. And right now I'm I'm happy with the two-month um uh interval. And um it's just you know, as we go along here, it's gonna be more of an avenue for people to to be visible. And you know, I I do I do all the interviews myself. So, you know, I'm not asking the same boring question. I'm I'm going through your stuff and I'm looking at who you are, and I'm listening to your music, and then I want to bring those things out to the public. Because who are you really? You know, that's what I want to know. So that's kind of how my interviews go.

Speaker 14:49

And what's unique about it is about everything we've talked about, is the fact that what you're doing is diversifying, but you're diversifying all in one place in this magazine, which is really the best thing you could do, right?

Speaker 1 15:01

Well, yeah, thank you. I mean, I love it. You know, back in the day, I used to have a huge, big 500-page website um called Voice of the Angels. And there it was it was before Facebook, it was before social media. So we had um a spiritual forum where we helped people, and we, you know, it was just like this huge. Well, in the course of all of that, I had Voice of the Angels magazine, which was a spiritual magazine, and we did actually a glossy as well. It was beautiful, and and I found, you know, that I really loved the whole magazine space. Um when my husband went down, I had to sell uh Voice of the Angels. Um, and um because I couldn't run it anymore, I was doing uh like a daily channeled message and where I'm tuning into collective consciousness. I have a huge newsletter, thousands of people that we wrote to every day. People would come there for um, you know, it was a social place. And then we have free free angel card readings as well, which I still have on the website uh freeangelcardreadings.com, so people can still get those. But it was like this massive thing, and then you know, I included the magazine and I want to say that was 2009. But like I said, I discovered that I really l love that. And you know, I'm a writer, I'm a professional writer, so I I love doing the magazine, and I hope that that really shows up in New Age Notes magazine because it is really a labor of love. I I love doing it.

Speaker 16:54

It's absolutely huge, too, and I understand that all the work going into it must have must be hours, and I know you've had thousands of downloads up to date so far, right?

Speaker 1 17:04

Yeah. I mean, you know, as you said, it's getting exponentially uh bigger, and I expect it to um, you know, get bigger and bigger. And uh my goal is, you know, but for all of us, we need exposure. We need to keep our name out there. So this is my you know goal here. Here is uh an avenue where you can get noticed and people can hear your music or they get interested in your, you know, uh what you're doing, and then they go and explore. People do go and explore you if they're interested in so you know the the interviews really help because it's like who is this person? And you know, I've found out so many interesting things about you know getting to know our artists in our community. I mean, there's like um a lot of them have just really interesting backgrounds. And that makes you interested in their music, you know.

Speaker 18:05

Right. Like you said, getting to know them and understanding who they are. And you listen to their music, then you can start picking up on certain things, right? Right.

Speaker 1 18:15

And you know, um anyone right, it's just an avenue of exploration, and I I really want, you know, we need visibility. We need way more than, you know, just being on streaming or being on serious or whatever, you know. When I was back on Music Choice, um, number one on on Soundscapes, I sold a lot of music from that, right? And like because people would actually they would hear it, and then they would uh go investigate and then they would buy it. And to me, this is a kind of a similar thing. You get interested in an artist and you go exploring. People do explore still.

Speaker 18:59

True. That's what the internet's all about, right?

Speaker 1 19:03

Yeah. And so, you know, if I can provide a little visibility for somebody and and drum up some interest in people's music, well that's great. Then we all thrive.

Speaker 19:15

The the thing about music too is uh there's a difference, like for me, I'll go look at analytics at a website, one of my websites, and um you know, you'll see all the the visits and you'll see average visits what it was seven seconds. Well that's telling me that's probably bots that are crawling my site, not people if it's only there seven seconds. But when you look at music, you can look at how many streams you have, how many followers, how does it equate to sales, how many downloads and all of that. So that's that that's helpful, right?

Speaker 1 19:47

Yeah, absolutely. Sure, we have to get kind of savvy to our analytics, right?

Speaker 19:54

There's it's multi-layered and and you need to have a core knowledge of technology and how things operate. And listen to people like you who have been in the industry that were like like you've you've said pre-Facebook, pre-social media times, and you've lived through all that, and you know what works and what doesn't. And if something doesn't doesn't work right now, you change it and you see what else works, right?

Speaker 1 20:19

Well, yes, and you have to not be afraid to keep trying. And you know what like you said, it's about consistency and visibility. Consistency, visibility, and keep people engaged in really what you're doing. And and um that's kind of it, you know. I mean, it's just and as far as music promotion goes, you gotta have a strategy, and that's way more than just sending out one email to a bunch of radio programmers. You gotta have a a strategy. That's part of it, you know, but but how much visibility does that really give you? You know, but it's part of the deal, right? So uh in terms of promotion, uh I think I have, you know, a good strategy for artists to get get you out there and keep you out there and you know, but it's a team effort. You gotta, you know, you gotta do your part too.

Speaker 21:19

Right. You just can't hand it off. You gotta there's a lot of moving parts and the artist has their part. So uh many times uh they have to do their part first before you can do your part. We both understand that, right?

Speaker 1 21:33

Absolutely. Absolutely. No, you have to take responsibility for your success. And you can't, well you can't I mean you want to pay somebody, you know, X amount of dollars to get on a chart. Okay, that's very nice. But it isn't it's not really helping you, you know, you know, like I said, you need a strategy. It's uh you need to do more than that, right?

Speaker 21:56

Right. Well, this has been a great, great talk with you, Diane. And I do hope you put this in the next New Age Notes magazine. You're gonna do that, right?

Speaker 1 22:06

I will do that, and that'll be that'll be in May. Um Just warmed up of course, you know, I just wound up the merch issue, but I could maybe fit it in. Yeah. I'm kidding. I can get it. I can get in.

Speaker 22:26

I'll be I'll be bugging you about it. You know that, right? I know it. I know it.

Speaker 1 22:32

Well th thank you for having me on, Keith. I really, you know, enjoy talking with you and working with you, and I appreciate what you do. So thank you.

Speaker 22:42

Goes both ways, Diane. Thank you. Have a great day. You too. Bye bye. Bye bye.