#Jan Hellriegel
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Jan Hellriegel presents 'Sportsman of the Year' at Pah Homestead 11 November 2022
“When my song, ‘The Way I Feel’ went to number two in the charts,
I thought my career in music was assured. Little did I realise it was the beginning of a very long road”– Jan Hellriegel
Following sold out "Sportsman of The Year” shows in Keri Keri and Titirangi, singer/songwriter & music legend Jan Hellriegel is looking forward to performing an intimate set at Pah Homestead – live, solo and acoustic.
Expect a wave of magnificent pop songs performed with classically trained vocal dexterity, spiced with anecdotes and stories from her fascinating career.
After cutting her teeth with Dunedin-based band, Cassandra’s Ears, Jan burst onto the NZ music scene in the early 90s with ‘It’s My Sin’, her debut rock album that peaked at number 5 in the national charts, and earned her well-deserved international attention. Three studio albums later, her latest record, ‘Sportsman of the Year’, recently climbed to number 2 in the NZ albums charts and garnered her a new generation of fans. Jan also wrote a poignant and often hilarious book, ‘Sportsman Of The Year – A Suburban Philosophy’, to give background and context to the songs on the record. The book/music combo was serialised as podcasts and produced by RNZ National with Jan narrating her life stories and experiences in the music industry as a sought-after performer and musician. Pitching the lows of failure and disappointment against the highs of accomplishment and pride in her creations, Jan’s story is all about following your dreams, and never giving up.
It promises to be a very special night of songs and stories delivered in Jan’s inimitable style. Opening up on the night will be Mahoney Harris and Leah Navanua (AKA Kaela) It’s a bit of a Songbroker family affair. I hope you can make it. xSeats are very limited, so get yours now!
#Pah Homestead#Jan Hellriegel#Piano Performance#Sportsman Of The Year#Live Music#Leah Navanua#Mahoney Harris
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So, I don’t know if NZ musicians write proportionately more songs on watery themes because we are so tied to beaches and lakes and the sea here or if I’m just drawn to songs on the topic. But have some Jan Hellriegel anyway.
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No matter how sorted you think you are, you will always be surrounded by people who are lost and angry. They will test you time and time again.
Jan Hellriegel
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No matter how sorted you think you are, you will always be surrounded by people who are lost and angry. They will test you time and time again.
Jan Hellriegel
#Jan Hellriegel#Jan Hellriegel Quotes#Quote#quotes#life#life quotes#experience#experience life#experience quotes#wise#wise quotes#wisdom#wisdom quotes#people suck#people#people are difficult
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No matter how sorted you think you are, you will always be surrounded by people who are lost and angry. They will test you time and time again.
Jan Hellriegel
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Footage: Western Springs Speedway and social club 1970.
Film copyright: A F Hellriegel and Family
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Mouth
"Mouth: six favorite quotes" - I had such a hard time picking JUST six, so I decided to be a bit of a rebel and pick 7 of my favorites.
Jan Hellriegel
Waiting for a Knight In Shining Armour is as productive as putting anti-rust on plastic. Sort yourself out and when you are ready he will be there.
Leo Tolstoy
Only people who are capable of loving strongly can also suffer great sorrow, but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief and heals them.
Rachel Machacek
I believe with all my heart that the cliches are true, that we are our own best friends and best company, and that if you’re not right for yourself, it’s impossible to be right for anyone.
Jody Picoult
Let me tell you this: if you meet a loner, no matter what they tell you, it’s not because they enjoy solitude. It’s because they have tried to blend into the world before, and people continue to disappoint them.
L.M. Montgomery
Because when you are imagining, you might as well imagine something worth while.
Plato
According to Greek Mythology, humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate beings, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves.
Unknown
A serious girl, when you finds someone who calms her spirit and quiets her busy thoughts, will love you so fiercely, it will defy even her own logic and reasoning.
And also, some of my other favorite quotes were written by: Marisa de los Santos, Greg Behrendt, and Michael Faudet. Go check out their stuff!!
#Anonymous#followers#jan hellriegel#leo tolstoy#rachel machacek#jody picoult#l.m. montgomery#plato#marisa de los santos#greg behrendt#michael faudet
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Jan Hellriegel | Bottom Of My Heart
Jan Hellriegel | Bottom Of My Heart
@janhellriegel
Jan Hellriegel is a singer-songwriter from New Zealand.
His latest track is a trippy indie pop track that washes over you.
Perhaps more importantly, the song is accompanied by quite possibly the best video ever in which a lovely lady meets, dates, has sex with and falls in love with a Muppetesque creature. Yes, full on Muppet-human sex. Herself and the muppet also seem to maybe…
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There is no R in Fee...or why the Free Economy sucks for artists, or anyone, really.
Just imagine if I asked you to do a job that could take months, even years, to complete; but before you started, I explained, you may never get paid for it.
Welcome to the world of the artist and musician. This is the environment we work in. Our currency is *IP and Copyright and sometimes we can earn a healthy amount for our output; but for the majority, it’s hit and miss and creative incomes are pretty lean.
Over the years, I have developed a simple response when anyone wants to use my work, or music, on the Songbroker Music Publishing catalogue for free, and that is; “There is no R in fee”.
Creatives are driven to produce work for a variety of reasons, but it is unlikely the main one is because they think they are going to earn a lot of coin. Secretly, probably, we all hope we will, but there is never a guarantee we can charge for the work we do.
Artists don’t get paid via a salary or a wage, we get paid when our audience (or customer) wishes to interact with our work commercially. And the kicker is, because we never know if someone will be interested in what we offer, or when that may be; well, it’s not exactly a job for the fainthearted.
I have licensed songs on film and TV productions that were written over 25 years ago. That’s a long time to wait for a pay cheque.
As I am in Skin by Cassandra’s Ears recorded in 1989, featured on NZ TV series Westside in 2020.
I wrote It’s My Sin around 1990 and someone licensed it onto a film, Juniper, in 2021
Recently, and it’s not the first time this has happened, someone asked me if I would license one of my music tracks onto an online promotional video. A Government Department was funding the project, and the Director was certainly not short of a bob or two.
The fee they offered me was Zip; Nada; Zero; Nothing. The producer was hoping I might consider a gratis license because it was such a good cause.
I thought about that offer for about minus two seconds and said. “No way”.
If I am not keen to proceed with a *synchronisation deal, I usually say “No, thank you, but thanks for the opportunity”; but this wasn’t one of those circumstances. This was a bunch of people asking me to work for free when they should’ve known better. There are laws against this in the real world, but unfortunately not in the artists’ realm where the Free Economy continues to dominate.
Another example of the Free Economy is when performers work at events for no remuneration. A Charitable Trust; A Non-Profit; or Government Agency may ask them to volunteer at a fundraiser or perform at an industry awards show spectacular for exposure or experience while the people asking are on very reasonable salaries. Everyone else contracted to work at the event is getting paid, but there is an unwritten assumption that the performer should rock up for no charge.
Most artists are good people. We want to do the right thing. But asking anyone to do something for free backs them into a very uncomfortable corner. Even if someone agrees to give their work away for nothing; you need to understand, like buyer’s remorse, they might go away and, after having time to think about it, might resent you very much.
What the Free Economy also does is perpetuate the myth that ‘art’ has no value and that creative people are not important in our society, nor do they deserve to earn from their work. That may not be your intention, but yeah, that’s what happens when you pull out the “Will you do it for free?” card.
Thinking people in Aotearoa New Zealand champion the living wage and accept this is a fair way forward but then these same people would not hesitate to ask someone who is probably earning way less than them to donate their time, or their work, for ‘no-charge’.
Look, I get it, it’s OK if you are an established artist who wants to donate your expertise to a worthy cause (and even get some personal promo going) but many artists in NZ do it very tough and even a small *koha is better than not offering some sort of payment for a person’s time or work.
If you are organising an event, the rule of thumb when considering whether you should pay someone is this; If all people working at an event, including; you, the caterers, roadies, ushers, bar staff, cleaners and the production company, are receiving some sort of payment, then you should offer to pay the artist, performer, speaker, etc. There is no excuse not to.
It’s also about excellent results. When everyone working on a job is happy, the outcome of this is a good energy and therefore a better work flow. This is probably a little esoteric, but I have worked on a lot of projects in my time and my theory has not failed me yet.
Art is valuable, and it’s worth investing in, but who wants to sink resources into something that has no return at all? The irony is when an artist hits the big time, the income from their creative output can be more than some of our highest paid CEOs and Government Bureaucrats. Lorde will earn from her creative industry for the rest of her life and beyond; at the same time contributing to society by paying her taxes. One less person who will need to rely on a pension in retirement has got to be a good thing, doesn’t it?
You need to be brave to be an artist. You will face rejection and years of living from hand to mouth with no ability to save for a rainy day or support your kids (which is why I had to give away my music for a number of years). So when there is an opportunity to sell or license your work, then you want to be paid decently because you know how much work went into creating it.
Through all the years of working and getting paid a wage to support my creative tendencies, I can say, hand on heart, nothing is as sweet as being paid a royalty for my creative work. Whether it’s a song placed on a film, a streaming income or a performance fee, it’s all good. Whenever I sell a book or one of my albums, I am happy feet dancing for hours. It’s nothing to do with the money. It’s because someone is interested in my art and they are acknowledging me by paying for it. Frankly, it’s one of the best feelings ever.
Next time you are thinking of acquiring music or licensing art or asking someone to work at your event; keep in mind the many hundreds of hours that this person has laboured to make what you are asking for, available. Before you make a fee offer, ask yourself; “Is this fair?” Always offer something and remember the mantra. “There is no R in fee”.
See more about the author Audio Culture
*HP = Intellectual Property
*Synch Licensing — Synchronising music onto film and TV shows.
*Koha The koha reflects the mana of both the giver and the recipient, reflecting what the giver can give, and the esteem they hold of the person or group they are making the gift to… *source Wikipedia
#Jan Hellriegel#Essays#Music Blog#creative industries#creative business#Free Economy#Work for Free#Music Mentoring#NZ Music#Music Industy#Knowledge is Creative Freedom
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“Looking back now I realise that the worst things that happened to me were the best things in disguise - I just didn’t know how to read the signs.”
Jan Hellriegel
#jan hellriegel#jan#hellriegel#quote#looking#back#looking back#now#i#realize#worst#worse#things#happened#were#best things#best#in disguise#disguise#read#read the sign#sign#Great Quotes#motivation#inspirational quotes#inspiration#wisdom#wise#special#great
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No matter how sorted you think you are, you will always be surrounded by people who are lost and angry. They will test you time and time again.
Jan Hellriegel
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No matter how sorted you think you are, you will always be surrounded by people who are lost and angry. They will test you time and time again.
Jan Hellriegel
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New Zealand singer Jan Hellriegel's brand of alternative pop rock can foster her low alto growl, heard here at times on 2 X 2 from a 2010 video that was eventually released on her July 2012 long-player All Grown Up. Hellriegel's tunes have a soaring, anthemic quality, with very catchy melodies. Her voice can be nearly bass at times but rises to much higher tones throughout the music to add a real richness in vocal texture; And 2 X 2 is no accident as much of Hellriegel's music has this type of varied vocal tonal textures.
Jan Hellriegel has just released a brand new (September 2013) EP, Pure Pleasure, available on bandcamp.com. You can for information on Jan Hellriegel by visiting her very complete web site, including purchase links for all of Jan's digitial content except Pure Pleasure, although by clicking through to any one of her purchase options you will see that EP in the list. Pick some awesome alternative pop-rock from Jan Hellriegel now!
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Jan Hellriegel - Melusine You drove your car up to the lake, didn’t you? You posed at the lakeshore, watched the strings of foam lap against the banks and lifted your face until you could see the lake was clear. Then you raised your oh-so-breakable sunglasses and left your eyes naked, squinting, screaming for fear of sunlight. And you waited for me. You hoped I would come as usual, body ducked under the skin-surface of the water, rippling green. In another time you said I was like a feather fluttering in the breeze, but then, a feather cannot drive forward with purpose, with a mind. A feather is a captured air-thing, for show, tucked into a hatband. You thought that when my seaweed hair finally broke the surface and my arm waved above like the Lady of the Lake, you thought you would break me. You thought you would put me on show, but you didn’t see me come, did you? After all, I was the one waiting for you, hiding under the narrow rotting pier on which you stood. So you scuffed your tanned cow-skin shoes against the earth. You swore under your breath and under your nose, little pearls of sweat formed on the stubble. I kept you waiting for so long, didn’t I? I made you wait until the thin strip between your nose and your lips seared red. Then you yelled for me. You hurled rocks into the water, tried to flush me out. You tried to say you loved me but instead you whined, an angry-sad animal and sobbed and heaved on your knees. And then I felt sorry for you and I flicked my head up and kissed your cheek. You leapt back as if stung. You didn’t reach for the net, you stared instead and let me flick my tail fin up and dive back under. You called to me, said my body shimmered like the rain, like a knife. And you did not remember that a knife is what you cut loose the net with and keep tucked tight in your belt.
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A Heretics View of the Music Industry Religion
The modern music industry focuses on chart success, data, stats, making money and fame, and, for some, that is aspirational. For me, it has always been a weird religion and one I never really signed up for.
The industry or Popstars have never mesmerised me and I don’t relate to the ethos even though I had plenty of opportunity to drink it in. When I released my second solo album, I gave the cult away so I could forge a music career on my own terms and because of this; I am content today, plus I still produce music and, being a woman of a certain age, that is success in itself.
In a musician’s perfect world, everyone would do well enough income wise to do it as a full-time job. They would enjoy the ride, retire, feeling totally chuffed with a life well lived, grateful they could follow their dream.
More often, however, that’s not how things pan out. You might get to play in a band, release a couple of songs, get an arts grant and if you have a big family (or a lot of friends), you might sell a few albums or some merch. A few years later, however, you will head off into the sunset because you will need to get a ‘real’ job and your music career becomes that story you tell when you reminisce about the good old days.
But here’s the thing; it is very difficult to make a living just from your art, any art for that matter, even though the message preached via industry organisations is that you can attain a robust career as an artist. The hard truth needs to be acknowledged; not all of us are going to be famous and rich and you may need to pivot if you want a roof over your head or to eat.
It’s OK though because this is probably true of 99.999999999% of all the musicians who had the dream to live their life as a music artist. Even those who tasted success, had a recording contract or music in the charts, may one day need to decide if they want to keep going.
For me, it was my twenty-ninth birthday after releasing my second album Tremble, with a major record label. Soon after it debuted, I was singing to a couple of people (literally) in a pub in St Kilda, Melbourne. I looked around at the empty seats and thought, “I think… maybe… I am not going to make it” and decided the next day it was time to go home.
At the time it was heart-breaking, but I am glad I did because everything turned out well because of that choice. Today I am incredibly content with where I am now, plus I learned a valuable lesson; Being famous might be amazing, but nothing beats being proud about what you produced. Would I swap anything in my music catalogue for fame or fortune? Short answer is, no.
I don’t mind that I wasn’t a global pop star, but I do care about my body work and am proud of every inch. Even better, I still get to produce music now. In 2019, I released my fourth studio album, Sportsman of The Year–A Suburban Philosophy, with an accompanying book and it was a creative career highlight and now I am lucky to be thinking; “What next?”
When you are creating your masterpieces, remember that you are the only one who cares about your work (well, your parents probably do too). The people you hope will respond to your music are at this very moment more interested in their own lives and how it’s working out for them. Nobody has asked you to create something, nor do they care if you do. All you can hope for is that someone will tune in to what you are doing one day.
And if you don’t get a huge response from your music release; does this mean the song you recorded is not good enough or you aren’t as talented as you think you are? No, it simply means the stars didn’t align this time. You are in good company because many artists work away in obscurity and some really famous people are not even recognised until after their death. If you believe it’s the best song in the world, then it is. That is your truth, and no one can take that away from you unless you let them.
You need to remember that anyone can be famous now and you don’t even need to be that clever. Most musicians will never enjoy the millions of followers a TikTok star might get for dancing to disco in their undies. Fame may never happen, so it’s best to learn how to be content with your work without the accompanying public overtures and feedback that so many artists seem to need.
The other thing to consider is that everyone, no matter how famous they are, has to watch the success tide go out one day. No one shines in the sun forever and we all face the decline when it eventually comes. It’s life. 100 years from now, all we can really hope for are a few decent lines in the annals of history. Time is a great leveller and we all greet the same destiny, no matter who we are.
In 1993 I won a song-writing award, a Tui, from RIANZ, now known as Recorded Music New Zealand. It seemed wonderful at the time and it was a great honour to receive it. Today, few people I work with were even born then, nor do they care about my achievements. Why? Because it’s 2022, it’s a new generation, and a different zeitgeist. What people are doing with their music now has a lot more appeal than my memories. It was time for me to move aside from the current trends twenty years ago. And I did.
Notice I wrote “move aside”, I didn’t say “move out”. I just accept that I am not the current generation and that is OK. I pick and mix what is happening now and add it to my creative sensibilities, if it suits. The world keeps spinning, so all you can do is concentrate on what you are doing. If you put all your energy into your art while you are in the creative zone, you will always be fulfilled, irrespective of reaching a global number one.
So why bother trying at all? Simple. Because you want to and you enjoy it and that is a substantial reason. The key is to relish success when (and if) it happens, and because this moment in time is fleeting, enjoy the sense of achievement, tip your hat towards yourself and move on.
Whether you are an overnight sensation or just play music to your cat, make sure you do the best job you can. Being totally committed to something you take pleasure in is where genuine fulfilment comes from. This is a state of mind you can achieve for life and is significantly better than chasing the approval of false gods.
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